


What was left behind

by notevenbothered



Category: One Piece
Genre: Canon Universe, F/M, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Minor Character Death, dad sanji, dads zosan, first 5 chapters are basically 24k of backstory bc im a hoe for detail, the sanji/oc is brief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2018-11-13 08:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 78,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11181159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notevenbothered/pseuds/notevenbothered
Summary: Sanji has the perfect day with the perfect girl on a little island the crew comes across. He leaves thinking of her fondly, but 8 years later, the girl forgotten and now married to a mossy swordsman, he learns that he left more than a girl behind on that island, but two children.





	1. A perfect day [PROLOGUE]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is essentially a prologue, and contains a lot of Sanji x OC (though it is just a fling) but you can skip to the next chapter without missing much if that's not your cup of tea

The ocean was azure, and the sky a matching picture as the pirate ship sailed serenely through the waves. A green haired swordsman dozed in the sun, a long-nosed sharpshooter blew bubbles while a young reindeer doctor jumped about trying to pop them.

Looking over the side at the horizon was the red-haired navigator, frowning at the device on her wrist. Next to her was her captain, a younger boy with a straw hat, staring out to sea with enthusiasm.

“An island, Nami? Close?” he grinned, stretching his neck to twice his height to get a better view.

“Not a big one, but big enough for supplies,” she told him, “It’s too out of the way to be hostile, but be on good behaviour anyway.”

With a snap the black haired head was back on its body, neck back to normal length. “Do I have time for a snack?”

“Of course, that’s all you care about,” she sighed irritably, “But eating here is better than spending money on a snack once you get there.”

“And doing both is better than that!”

“Oi, Luffy, don’t you-“

“SAAAAAAANJI! MEAT! MEAT! NAMI SAID I COULD!”

Nami considered yelling at him, but with the beautiful weather she was in a reasonably calm mood, and let him run off with only a light pinch.

The galley door swung open and the pirate captain leapt in, swinging his head left in right in search of his cook. “Sanji! Meat!”

An irritated voice called out from the storage room, “It’s not lunch time yet, dumbass.”

“Nami said there was time for a snack! I want meat!” He burst into the storage room to see the cook crouched in front of crates, scribbling on a notebook.

He turned to look at the captain, one visible eye squinting in annoyance, “I’m writing a shopping list, wait a moment if you’re hungry,” he turned back to his paper and added an item. “We’re low on everything, dammit.”

The ship hadn’t seen land in a few months now, and though Sanji was second to no one in rationing (while still making impeccable food) the stores had been running dangerously low for about a week. Luffy punching out a seaking in one swipe the other day had eased the strain a little, but Sanji was making sure to stock up on everything.

“Make sure to buy meat,” Luffy said, waddling over. “Lots of it!”

“I’ve already written meat,” Sanji tapped his pencil to where ‘meat’ had been written. “I do know you, captain.”

“Lots of meat!” Luffy pushed, “I want more of your ham sandwiches!”

Snatching Sanji’s pencil, Luffy scribbled next to where meat was written, ‘ _meat!!! For Luffy! Many meat_!”

Sanji snatched the pencil back from the grabby rubber man, “It’s ‘much meat’ anyway, or ‘many meats’.”

Luffy frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It’s grammar.”

“Whose grandma?”

Sanji opened his mouth to gristle but Luffy cut over him, “Are you done writing your list? Can I have a snack?”

The cook wrote two more things down ( _sugar and limes_ ) then tore off the page and put it in his breast pocket. “Fine, you black hole, sit down and I’ll make you something delicious.”

“Everything Sanji makes is delicious,” Luffy beamed. Sanji rolled his eyes, delighted. “Only the best for the pirate king.”

Chopper had bounced into the kitchen by the time the two left the storeroom, “Can I have a snack too? I was chasing bubbles all morning.”

“It’s a great workout,” Usopp informed them, nodding seriously, “Did you know I was a renowned fitness instructor back in Syrup town?”

Sanji tossed Chopper a slice of brownie he had made earlier that day. “Must have been hard, commanding 8000 men as well as being a fitness instructor,” he said starting pulling out pans and seasoning for the cooking. Luffy had eagerly sat at the bar, eyes wide with excitement.

“Well I was instructing _them_ to be fit most of the time,” Usopp voice faltered only slightly as he added to his fabling, “It was definitely hard work. Works up an appetite.” His eyes looked hopeful suddenly.

The cook’s hands were working now, with the swift grace they saw every meal time, too fast for them to keep track of unless they focused, doing things more technical for any of them to understand without 15 minutes explanation. Probably more for Luffy.

It didn’t take long for him to dish out plates for his three nakama, and he grabbed a bottle of sake for the moss head he knew would amble in at the smell of food. Indeed, he arrived, and was half way through his demand when the bottle was thrown at him. He caught it, reflexes immeasurable, and grumbled his thanks.

There had been something different growing between him and Zoro lately, animosity melting away to a rivalry that was almost becoming friendly. The two were in tune more often than not, and understood each other better than they understood the others and the others them.

The other night Usopp had been halfway through a tale of when he had fist fought a minotaur (Chopper listened, enraptured) when he had gestured too passionately and fell over. Sanji and Zoro burst out laughing at the same time, shared a smile, before both looking away rapidly.

Nami walked in, and immediately Sanji forgot about the algae monster as love filled his heart. “Nami-swan! Can I fetch anything for you!” He glided over to her delightedly.

She smiled at the display, “Nothing for the moment, just wanted to say Franky’s seen the dock and we’ll be there in 10 minutes.”

Luffy promptly swallowed his steak whole (a feat that would have frightened Sanji was he not now used to it) and trounced out so he could sit on the figurehead and get the best view.

Sanji turned to face the three still eating/drinking, “I’ll need a pack mule. Who volunteers?”

“I’ve got a deadly if-I-carry-shopping-bags-I-die disease,” Usopp apologised gravely.

“I need to pick up some herbs,” Chopper apologised genuinely.

“I don’t want to,” Zoro gulped his alcohol.

Sanji turned his icy glare to the marimo, ready to bring the pain when Nami interrupted, “I want Zoro to keep watch here. Usopp, you’ll go and help Sanji.”

“I’ll die-“

“I’ll kill you first,” she warned.

The sharpshooter wilted. “I guess I can bring the antidote along.”

A shout came from above deck. “Ow! Land ahoy! Frrrrrranky had steered us ashore!”

On deck, Robin had appeared from the library, and Brook from wherever he’d been. Nami pulled out allowances for everyone.

“Okay, Sanji this is for the food, Chopper this is for medical supplies, and spending beri for everyone because I’m in a giving mood.”

Sanji sighed, “Nami-swan is as generous as she is beautiful.”

Steadily ignoring him, she continued, “It looks like there’s a nice market on this island. I want everyone back by tomorrow at 10am, we’re leaving before noon. Zoro, don’t leave the ship unless you’re accompanied.”

He immediately protested, “I’m not a child, you witch-“

“You’ll get lost like a child, and don’t you dare insult Nami-Swan!”

“Wanna fight, idiot cook?” Swords were unsheathed and a leg raised. Before they could meet, ears were pinched and the two chastised.

“No fighting until tomorrow, we have a lot to do in little time,” Nami told them, not releasing their ears from her fiery grip until they nodded.

Sanji’s ear was still sore when he reached the market. For a small island, it was well stocked. Asking a friendly looking local, apparently there were two smaller islands not far away that came here for their produce.

The Island was called Periwinkle Island, and it was incredibly charming.

There were all sorts of beautiful ingredients, and Sanji’s hands started itching to cook with them as his mind whirred with recipe ideas. “I can sauté those, ohh Robin-chan would like that in a jam-”

“Could we finish the shopping, I’m not allowed to spend my allowance until we’re done.” Usopp had been trudging after him unenthusiastically. “They’ve got a cool ammo stall.”

Biting back a rude remark, Sanji told him to fetch fruit while he went after vegetables. The market was bustling in the approaching midday sun, and everything was only slightly unreasonably priced.

It was a normal day, until he by chance caught a glimpse of a stall on the outskirts of the market. It was selling pastries, and delicious as they looked they weren’t what caught his eye.

A beautiful girl, soft hair, a dazzling smile, enticing dimples. She was standing in a lavender coloured apron, beaming at customers as they came to her. So beautiful Sanji felt quite delirious, and his feet carried him over before his brain could catch up.

“An angel! Your eyes burn into my very soul! Could I please have your name, or I may die.” He caught her hand and kissed it.

To his surprise when he caught her eye, a faint blush was colouring her cheeks. “Hah, I’m sure you say that to every market girl here.”

“Every girl I have met in my life now pales in your comparison,” he released her hand, “My pulse is failing, your name?”

“Clara Lavender, kind sir.” She looked pleased at the attention. Hiding his surprise that his advances almost seemed to be working, Sanji carried on.

“A beautiful, fragrant name is fitting for so lovely a flower! I am Sanji, a humble cook, pleasured to be at your service!”

“I’m pleased to be at _your_ service; I’m the seller here, am I not?” She grinned, “Would the humble cook like a croissant?”

“The humble cook would adore a croissant,” he crooned. Clara laughed, a tinkly sound, and Sanji felt his heart thumping out of his chest.

She selected one for him, “Well do try one, I baked them myself this morning.”

“Clara-chan is as talented as she is beautiful,” he sighed, “Were they made with your love?”

“Of course.”

“Then no feasible living force could stop me from trying one,” he bit into it. It was perfect. It must have been the love.

He couldn’t quite believe his luck. A beautiful girl being friendly to him? He needed to extend this conversation as long as possible. After showering her with compliments for her baking (she blushed lightly again, this was going better than a dream) he said,

“This is a beautiful island; the scenery is almost as lovely as the girls.”

She cocked her head at him suddenly, as if sizing him up. “There is a lovely waterfall on the other side of the island.” She bit her lip, looking around her as though searching for someone. She turned back to him, a glint in her eye. “My lunch break is soon, could I take you there?”

_I’m dead_ Sanji thought, _I died and now I am in heaven. This is my divine reward for what I have been through all my life_. _A girl, is asking ME, to accompany her somewhere_.

“Believe me when I say, nothing else in this universe would make me happier.”

Naturally, this was when Usopp returned. “Sanji, I’m done, what’s next?”

“Just a moment, my dear,” Sanji kissed her hand, then dragged Usopp away and hissed, “I need you to finish the shopping alone!”

“What the hell man?” Usopp frowned, “Why?”

“A girl!! I managed to get a date!”

“Dude, seriously? You’re a damn slimey fox. It’s been five minutes and you’re running off with some lady.”

“Come on, Usopp please! For me! For my happiness!”

“Aw dude,” Usopp was staring at him, disappointment in his eyes, “You’ll never change huh?” He sighed dramatically. “I suppose being the hero I am, I must help you out.”

“Thank you _so much_ Usopp I owe you.”

“If you tell me I’m as heroic as I am beautiful,” Usopp added suddenly.

“The hell? No!”

“Do it, I bet you’ve already told her she’s as something as she is beautiful. Why not me, huh?”

“I’ll kill you, I won’t say it!”

“I won’t finish your shopping!”

Sanji started the sniper dead in the eye, his dark aura making Usopp tremble slightly, “You are as heroic as you are beautiful.”

“Sweet. What’s left to buy?”

“Just as much meat as you can carry for Luffy,” Sanji handed him his shopping bags, ignoring Usopp’s audible _oof_ and rushed back to Clara’s stall. She was taking off her apron as an old lady was putting one on. The old lady turned to stare at him.

“This is the young man in question?” She sighed at Clara, “Don’t fall for anything he says.”

“I won’t Granny,” she looped her arm through Sanji’s and it took all his strength to not burst into tears right there and then. “See you!”

Sanji looked back and winked at Usopp, who was shaking his head at him, mouthing _player. Get a hobby_.

The scenery was indeed gorgeous, but Sanji’s mind was nowhere else but where the arm was through his, and the story she was telling him about her stall after he had asked.

“My mother was baker and my father’s a sailor, and she caught his attention with her baking all those years ago,” she smiled sadly now, “she died, and my father’s at sea, so I only have granny now. I live by myself though.”

_I can get her alone_ was where Sanji’s mind went, but he chased the thought away. “My mother’s dead too, and _my_ father at sea. I live with my nine crew mates though.”

She smiled at him, “That must be quite crowded. What does your father do though?”

A flash of a thought crossed his mind of biological father, but resolutely he pushed it back and said, “he’s a chef at a floating restaurant in the East Blue, the Baratie.”

“Did he teach you how to cook?”

“Every essence of it,” he said, enthusiasm entering his features. “We used to spend hours in the kitchen when I was younger! The bastard made me wash the dishes though. He eventually let me be sous-chef, but then I joined Luffy’s crew and left.”

“Straw hat Luffy?” she looked surprised.

_Oh no. What if she’s against pirates._

Then she laughed. “Ah, you’re a pirate! I was trying to be subtle when I said mine is a sailor, he’s a pirate too!”

_Perfect_ Sanji sang in his head _I have met the perfect girl_.

The sound of rushing water pulled back his attention, and she quickened her pace as they left the woods they had been strolling through. The rushing grew louder until it became crashing, and then there in front of them was the promised water fall.

The light shining through its spray created a rainbow, and in the stream running away from it little coloured fish dotted about.

“Breath taking,” he sighed.

Clara giggled, “I was almost expecting you to say as breath taking as me.”

He fell to his knees immediately, “nowhere near, my angel!” She laughed loudly now.

“You sure are passionate!”

“They usually call me overbearing.”

She laughed even louder and tapped his nose, “You’re very endearing, I think.”

“You’ll kill me, Clara, if you continue like this. You’ve already shot a thousand arrows into my heart, anymore and my life will be on your conscience.”

She plopped to the floor to sit on the ground next to him, “A shame, we haven’t talked much. Tell me more about your father.”

Leaving out the bits such as how they fought more than they talked, and how he got kick to the head at any slightest thing he did wrong, Sanji spoke about how he had been taken in when he was nine, and how he had lived with the old man ever since and taken all his values from him.

Clara was an only child who missed her father, and her mother even more, and did her best to keep the bakery stall alive in her honour. She had lunch with her granny every day and sometimes dinner if not with friends or a charming sailor from off the island.

“Why no suitors from the island?” he enquired.

“It’s a small population, they’re all married, related to me or uninteresting,” she told him, “I rely on passing strangers for male company.” She batted her eyelashes.

“So I am not the first to be enraptured by your charms,” he sighed.

“Don’t worry, there haven’t been many. You missed my hint earlier, by the way.”

“Hm?” He frowned, going over their conversation. _I have dinner with her if not with friends or a charming sailor from off the island._ “I’m a fool! Would you have dinner with me!”

“I’d love to!”

And so they had dinner. He grabbed Franky beforehand and whispered he’d be busy for the foreseeable hours so if they wanted dinner onboard Sunny they’d have to make it themselves. Franky nodded, winked, and muttered, “Have fun.”

 

* * *

 

And fun Sanji had.

The next morning when Sanji woke up in Clara’s bed, decidedly undressed, he had to physically stop himself from punching the air.

He had scored, and scored higher than ever before in his book. Beautiful, loves baking, accepted his advances and made some of her own, _lives by herself_ , and doesn’t mind pirates.

_Such a shame I have to leave_ he thought remorsefully _Such a shame_.

He pulled on his underwear and trousers and nothing else, and then strolled into her kitchen to make breakfast. It was something he always liked to do, in gratitude.

He hummed as he navigated through her cupboards and found them filled with plenty of flour, probably due to her baking. Pancakes he decided, grapping oil and a frying pan. With a second thought cream to whip, she had mentioned she loved strawberries and cream the evening before.

Quite possibly in one of the best moods of his life, his humming turned into low singing as he sang some old French love song his mother had once sang him to sleep with.

Clara appeared from the bedroom, in a dressing gown, and smiled sleepily at him. Her hair was fluffy from sleep and her eyes bleary.

“My angel,” he sang, “I’m making breakfast, I hope you don’t mind!”

“Not at all, Sanji dear,” she yawned, getting knives and forks out of a drawer. “Are you staying long?”

“We leave at noon, my sweet,” he told her sadly, “I promise to remember you!”

She laughed, “So passionate! A shame though, we could have had a nice time together.”

Sanji dished up the pancakes for her, “Indeed! We could have married, and had a son and a daughter! The daughter named Sapphire and the son Cerulean!”

“You really like blue, huh,” she said, remembering the bright look in his eyes as he explained to her his dream of finding the All Blue. She had never seen such passion, his face seemed to change entirely as it lit up, his walls tumbling to the floor as the spoke of his dream. She liked him quite a bit really, but with a dream as bright as his, and having known him not even 24 hours she didn’t even consider asking him to stay a little longer.

Instead she bit into her pancake. “Was it made with love?”

“All the love in the world!”

Clara looked at him. “I’d like to keep something to remember you by.”

Sanji paused, then skipped into the bedroom and returned with his jacket. He fished out a piece of paper, and she saw it was a shopping list. He turned it around and wrote on the back:

_Remember me, angel! Sanji xx_

Ridiculously pleased with it, she stuck it to the fridge. “I will!”

At this moment, her granny swung the door open and stepped in. She caught sight of the shocked Sanji in a second. “ _A man_ ,” she accused, pointing at him.

Clara quickly moved between them, a strained smile crossing her face, “Granny this is Sanji, from before, Sanji this is Clementine Lavender, my grandmother.”

“How do you do, ma’am,” Sanji still looked a little like a rabbit caught in headlights

“Not very well,” she narrowed her eyes, “Clara told me she was just showing a tourist the waterfall. Clearly she showed him some other things.”

“ _As happy as I am to see you maybe we should talk later_ ,” Clara trilled, trying to push her grandma out while remaining as polite as she could.

“Remember what happened to your mother! Don’t trust passing pirates!” Clementine made an _I’m watching you_ motion with her hand as she was pulled out of the house. Clara stared apologetically at Sanji, who out of his daze started laughing. At this, she began giggling too.

At noon, she felt a tiny twinge of regret as she waved goodbye to the ship, Sanji waving rapidly back. The captain, not sure what was happening but eager to be a part of it waved too.

On board, Zoro was staring at Sanji judgementally. “You’re a dog.”

“And you’re a ball of moss,” Sanji snapped. He felt different to be back on board the ship, everything normal again, after all the hours of being under the spell of the company of a beautiful lady. Arguing with Zoro again he was out of his dream world. Clara was already too small to properly make out, but still standing on the dock.

Zoro shrugged, there was something annoyed in his expression that Sanji couldn’t place.

A nice girl and nice memory, he thought about Clara. But already Luffy was shouting for lunch, so Sanji tucked her away into a safe spot in the back of his mind and strolled to the galley.

Three weeks later, throwing up and with a late period, it wasn’t quite as easy for Clara to forget the cook.


	2. Things change

Things had changed in the 10 years of being a straw hat.

Sanji was now 29 years old (God no) and renowned throughout the world for his deadly kicks. Just call him one kick man. He was no longer Blackleg Sanji, the cook of aspiring Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, he was Blackleg Sanji, cook and nakama of THE Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy. They had reached Raftel against all odds and Luffy had taken the One Piece for himself, watched on by his adoring crew.

They had acquired a new member, Jinbei, after the battle with Big Mom and that disastrous almost arranged marriage.

The Thousand Sunny, like the Merry, had grown old and was replaced by an even bigger ship, most importantly with a bigger kitchen. Not only that, but they had bunk rooms of their own. This was useful for another development that had occurred in the last 10 years. On his third finger on his left hand, resided a wedding band. Not one given to him by Pudding, but someone he cared for far more. If you’d told him all those years ago, when he was 19 and hated the moss’s guts, that he would end up marrying him, he’d have rather killed himself.

These days it was Zoro’s morning yawn that brightened his day, Zoro’s hand he would reach for if his weren’t holding cooking knives, and Zoro he slept next to each night, truly content.

It had been a few months after his last girlfriend (Clara, he remembered her name was), that they shared a first kiss, half drunken but well within control of their actions, sitting in the orange tree grove. They tried to hide their budding relationship, failed, and a few months after that Sanji identified romantic feelings for the swordsman, and was shocked to find Zoro had identified his own long before that. Shocking because Sanji was meant to be love cook, after all. Luffy had laughed loudly, Brook began to play a romantic melody and Usopp grudgingly handed over the beri he had lost in the bet with Nami.

It had been a spur of the moment thing, a week into the celebrations of Luffy’s new crown as Pirate King, that the two exchanged vows in front of a sobbing crew. Sanji called up Zeff to tell him, and was met with furious shouting that he hadn’t waited so that the old chef could walk him down the aisle. This culminated in a shouting match that Sanji wasn’t a god damn woman and who said he even wanted the old fart at his wedding?

Zeff asked him who took whose name, and Sanji grudgingly muttered he was now Roronoa Sanji. After all, the name Vinsmoke meant nothing to him, so why not replace it. Zoro got a strange proud happy look whenever Sanji signed something using the name, and that made up for everything in his mind. An unusual couple they seemed at first, but no one could deny the love they felt for each other.

At the present moment Sanji was sat leant against his husband’s side, who was running calloused fingers through the soft blonde hair. The sun had just set, and the sky was yet retaining the last remains of light. The crew sat on deck, Brook playing gentle violin, the strapping twenty-five-year-old doctor Chopper playing cards with the Pirate King. It felt strange to refer to him as that, such a grand title for such a familiar and still rather goofy boy. Well, he was twenty-seven, so not a boy, but Luffy had never really changed.

They had had dinner, and Nami had now disappeared into the galley. He was tempted to go look for her, offer to cook if she was looking for a snack, but Zoro started scratching at his scalp and he was rather powerless to move.

When she returned, she was carrying two bottles of champagne. They must have been well hidden, because he hadn’t bought them. Sanji opened his mouth to say something, when Luffy spoke over him.

“Sanji! You know what day it is, right?”

“Thursday,” he mused, sitting up. Zoro’s arm fell to rest around his waist.

“It’s ten years exactly since you joined the crew, cook,” Zoro told him, “We all had our 10-year anniversaries, were we going to forget yours?”

Of course, Nami, Zoro and Usopp had had theirs a few weeks before, hadn’t they? And Luffy had celebrated 10 years since his leaving home to start his quest too.

Still, he felt delighted to be remembered. “It was best thing to ever happen to you losers!”

Nami popped the cork out of one bottle, “Careful who you call a loser, or you won’t get any champagne.”

“Of course I didn’t mean you, Nami-swan,” he crooned. Ten years later and now a married man, but some things wouldn’t change.  These days he didn’t particularly flirt with her, but still treated her as a goddess, as he still did all women.

Back in his single years he had flirted with every woman he came across, a habit he couldn’t quite get out of even months into his relationship with Zoro. He believed himself in love with each of them (before Zoro of course), and forgot them the next day. Now he barely glanced with a romantic eye at anyone other than his husband, a fact which Zoro was undeniably smug about. On occasion, something reminded him of a past lover. Waterfalls of that last girl, Clara.

Nami was pouring champagne out, and Zoro was complaining and asking for sake instead. He got a slap upside the head. “We’re celebrating, Marimo!”

He remembered all those years ago when it had been Nami’s birthday, so he’d brought out champagne, and half the crew was technically too young to drink it, but they all did anyway. We’re all old now he thought. Franky is forty-four of course, though with all the robotics he was made of it didn’t show. Robin’s beauty hadn’t faded either, though she was only thirty-eight. Brook was 98 years old and made sure everyone knew it. “We’re having the party of the century when I turn 100! I’ll know if it’s the party of the century because I’ll have been alive a century! Yo-ho-ho!”

The sky was dimmer now, slithers of light barely making it above the horizon. Lamps had been lit, as had candles.

“To the best ten years of your lives,” Sanji announced, raising a glass.

Zoro scoffed and Sanji turned sharply. “What was that, darling?”

“Oh nothing, sweetums.”

“Are you saying that knowing me, your literal husband, hasn’t been the best ten years of your life?”

“Dramaaa,” Usopp sang, downing his champagne and hiccupping. “We should have never let them marry, the old married couple fights were bad enough before they were even dating.”

A kick was aimed his way and Usopp was thrown several metres away. He sat up and yelled, “Worst ten years, Sanji! Worst! You’re a dick!”

“You’d all have starved without me!”

“Fight! Fight!” Luffy cawed eagerly, getting to his feet and punching Chopper, who flew delightedly through the air and transformed into one of his more formidable forms to join the ruckus.

The sun gone, lit only by the moon and flickering candles did the Straw-hat pirates squabble, accompanied by a gentle melody from Brook, a light chuckle from Robin and yelling from Nami to stop.

 

* * *

 

Sanji really rather enjoyed his life. He loved his crew, his husband, his job. Really only one downside to his life was the inability to have children. He could live without them, he supposed, and what life was there for an infant on board a pirate ship. Who even knew if Zoro wanted kids? (Okay, it was no secret Zoro adored children, though he tried to keep it under wraps. But other’s children and your own children were very different).

It didn’t matter, there was no way he would ever trade his life for another. Could he restart his life he would’ve made the same decision at every turn, though maybe agreed sooner to join Luffy’s crew, and been warmer to Zoro in the hindsight that the swordsman had liked him for a while.

Today he was in the kitchen, peppers and various other ingredients sizzling in the pan. It was early, and only Robin and Chopper who were on watch were also up. Zoro had been snoring into his pillow when Sanji had patted his hair goodbye and left their bed earlier on, and probably would be for a little longer yet. He had long since memorised his crew’s sleep schedules.

He and Brook had been up since five, Brook in the music room on the piano, Sanji showering and prepping breakfast. Robin was up an hour later, at six, and then Zoro, Chopper and Nami would be up at seven. Luffy woke up and slept when he pleased, so Sanji had to be armed with breakfast for that starving whirlwind at any point. In general he tended to make breakfast for half past nine, by which point Usopp and Franky were up too, if they were to eat together, but if anyone poked their head into the galley hungry they were welcome to something earlier. Only lunch and dinner were strictly time tabled by the cook.

It was half past six currently, and Robin was at the table sipping tea as he prepped veggies, finished with her watch now. Sanji had decided this particular morning to prep everything and cook it as people woke up and serve it to them. It was a simple dish, eggs cooked with other ingredients, but everyone knew it would be as spectacular as anything else Sanji conjured up.

Chopper was sat diligently looking out to sea, though as a general rule during daylight no one kept particular watch. Sanji had taken him out a hot chocolate.

Robin watched him through the porthole. “I might go tell doctor to go to bed, he needn’t keep watch with you and I awake.

“You’re as caring as you are beautiful,” Sanji called after her. It had been brought to his attention numerous times that this line had gotten old ages ago, about ten years ago Zoro informed him, but he liked to keep it. (“You’re as rude as you are beautiful,” Sanji had retaliated, chuckling internally at the conflicted look on Zoro’s face between fury and being flattered.)

It was more of a reflex that he said it these days, and the crew on occasion used it themselves ironically. Luffy finished his chores? You’re as hardworking as you are beautiful, Franky told him. Usopp accidentally kicked over a bucket? You’re as clumsy as you are beautiful, Chopper giggled.

When all the crew was up and fed, Sanji got to work cleaning the dishes, while everyone else went about their daily business. These days the ship mostly just went in whatever direction Nami said, so that she could finish her map of the world. It was nearly complete, after being years in the work, but not quite. They were currently sailing in a patch of the sea they had visited about 8 years ago, maybe less, but Nami had missed some parts of it at that time.

Usopp was working on a pair of goggles that gave him sight even further away, and allowed him to lock on to enemies potentially miles away. He usually tinkered in his office, but today was on deck while Franky, Zoro, Luffy and Nami were engaged in a dangerous game of volleyball that he’d rather stay away from. Franky was huge, but with little manoeuvrability, made up for by Zoro’s speed. It was basically impossible for Luffy to miss the ball with his rubber limbs, and Nami was a dangerous foe too.

The two teams were currently neck and neck, and slightly disinterestedly Usopp turned to the horizon with his new goggles. Clear as day, he saw the ship.

A pirate ship, obviously, as there was the jolly roger clear as day. Not a huge ship, but with some dangerous looking cannons equipped. They were headed straight towards the Straw-hat ship, and Usopp quickly turned to the others.

He, however, forgot to take the goggles off and was treated to an up-close inspection of Franky’s nostrils. Squawking he tore off them off, and the four stopped their battle to pay attention to him.

“Everything alright, Usopp?” Nami called.

He nodded and recaptured his thoughts, “Uh yeah, but there’s a pirate ship headed our away.”

Luffy beamed. “Awesome! Do they look dangerous? I’ve been wanting a fight!” He bounced over and grabbed Usopp’s goggles, looking in the direction that the sniper had just been. “Oooh, check out those cannons!”

Zoro jumped onto the handrail and looked out to sea also, before stepping down and walking to grab his swords. “Stranger pirates heading in our direction can only mean a fight.” A slow grin was crawling onto his face.

Nami sighed. “You’d think pirates wouldn’t attack the Pirate King. Can’t they just bow down to you like you’re actually royalty.”

“That would be less fun,” Luffy cackled.

The enemy ship was fast, and approaching swiftly. Being the crew of the Pirate King, and had long before that been able to take on whole crews by themselves, the five on deck didn’t call for backup from the rest of their crew members. Jinbei sensing danger strolled to join them, and though Robin was aware of the danger she insisted she and Chopper finish their board game before they check out the new enemies.

The ship pulled up alongside the straw-hat ship, but made no attempt to use its impressive weaponry. Pirates lined up along the side to stare at the straw-hats, but the ship wasn’t quite as big so they were all looking up at the six staring down at them. One man, in a fabulous hat, stepped forward, clearly the captain. They readied themselves for him to address Luffy, but he instead called out something different.

“My name is Captain Balls of the Cannon Ball pirates-“ at least three straw hats sniggered, and a few of his own crew, but he continued “I’m looking for the one they call Blackleg Sanji.”

Nami frowned at Luffy, and Robin and Chopper looked up from their game.

Zoro bristled visibly, and spite filled his voice, “What do you want with him? Talk with us, we came to greet you.”

“Ah, shut it, mossy-locks,” came the cook’s smooth voice. He came to stand between his husband and his captain. “Can I help you, bastards?”

Brook appeared too, and Robin and Chopper now joined the rest. The Cannonball Pirates looked a little shaken now, faced with the entirety of the crew of the Pirate King, but Captain Balls (Usopp and Luffy were having a hard time keeping it together) stayed strong. “I believe I have something of yours.”

“What would that be?” Sanji rolled his eyes.

“Your son.”

No one expected that.

Usopp’s jaw dropped. Luffy let out an “Eh??”. Robin’s eyebrow arched slightly. Franky’s eyes flicked from Sanji to Zoro to the enemy captain. Zoro’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

Shaken, Sanji tried to process what had been said. “What? I don’t- have a…?” he trailed off. He had had sex with women, sure, but he didn’t have a kid?

Captain Balls laughed, “Then why was he sending out letters in every direction searching for Blackleg Sanji, who he insists is his father to this day, demanding he come visit him and his sister?”

“He’s a fan?” Chopper offered weakly.

“Sister?” Sanji breathed.

“Would a fan look like this?” The captain held out a picture. Without hesitation Sanji jumped down, despite a half-hearted attempt from Zoro to hold him back. The cook snatched the photograph and jumped back to his ship, nine crew members scrabbling to get a look.

A boy. Tied up, teary eyed, with two rather familiar curly eyebrows.

Suddenly Sanji felt a crippling pain in his head, and realised Nami had bashed him with her climatact. “YOU ASSHOLE! YOU HAVE A SON! YOU DEAD-BEAT DAD!”

“I didn’t know!” Sanji argued, “I- I don’t know how this happened!”

“I can tell you how it happened,” Chopper offered, a wide range of medical knowledge at his expense.

“I know how it happened,” he snapped, and called down to the enemy captain, needing only one thing for certainty “Where is the kid from?”

The man grinned. “Periwinkle Island.”

That was where…

_“Would the humble cook care for a croissant?”_

_“You’re endearing, I think”_

_“I’d like something to remember you by”_

“Clara!” Sanji gasped. A second painful smack to the head came from Nami.

“He actually IS YOURS? YOU DICK!”

“I DIDN’T KNOW!”

He realised Zoro had been quiet, and turned to his husband, “for clarification I last saw her six months before you and I even kissed.” All he got was a raised eyebrow in return for that.

“Holy shit, was she the girl that asked you to see the waterfall with her,” Usopp remembered, “You made me finish the shopping by myself. Man, that was ages ago.”

“OW! I remember!” Franky agreed, “She was the last girl you slept with before Zoro!”

Zoro’s face still had rather a shadow on it, unsurprisingly unamused to hear in detail about his husband’s past exploits.

“May I point out,” Jinbei said, cutting in, “It doesn’t exactly matter whether the kid is Sanji’s or not, but isn’t kidnapping children fundamentally wrong?”

“Yeah!” Luffy yelled. He had been lapping up the drama, but now turned to enemies in anger, “Not cool!”

“So, you’ll pay the ransom?” The Cannonball Pirates starting cackling to themselves, thinking they’d won. Sanji had admitted the brat was his, now they could reap the rewards. It was for this that they had kidnapped him, after all.

Sanji himself, meanwhile, was stretching his legs. This ought to have been their first clue things weren't about to go their way. “No,” he said, “I’ll just take him.”

All ten straw hats jumped at once onto the deck, and also at once did the other crew begin to scream in terror. With one kick ten were sent flying, while Luffy was knocking out twenty at a time. Chopper changed to a large form, growling, while Usopp attacked with his staff.

“CANNONS!” Someone yelled, apparently, they had cannons facing the deck as well as out to sea. They all fired at the straw hats at once. Swords flew out to meet them, and soon the cannon balls were all neatly cut in half. The swordsman turned to the cannons themselves, and the ones operating them fled. They didn’t make it far when hands appeared from the floor and grabbed them, holding them down and breaking various bones. Swords slashed and the cannons were useless.

Meanwhile Captain Balls (even Sanji was a little amused) had a mini launcher, firing it at the cook, who either dodged each cannonball with ease or kicked them in the direction of an enemy pirate. One last ball was fired, and he kicked this one in the direction of the captain himself, who fell to the floor.

Eyes icy cold did Sanji press his foot on the captain’s throat, who looked up at him, surprise mixed with his fear. Really Sanji thought Did he not factor in this possibility?

“Where’s the kid?”

“Two flights down, second door to the left,” the man wheezed.

Leaving the rest of the crew to his friends, Sanji ran in the direction he had been told, and found the door in question. His heart was thumping in his chest- A _son_ , he’d never known about? With a sister too? Poor Clara, he had really done a terrible thing.

He unceremoniously kicked the door in. There was a muffled squawk of surprise from inside, and then for the first time, father and son saw each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't write battle scenes, forgive me. 
> 
> Also if anyone has any name suggestions for their new ship hit me with them because I'm uncreative af. I'm gonna call it the Sailing Zosan I s2g.


	3. What he left behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More OCs, very sorry, but I wanted the kids, who'll be mains in later chapters, to have detailed backstories.

“DAMN PIRATES! DAMN GOOD FOR NOTHING PIRATES!” An old lady was ranting and raving, throwing pillows at walls and bellowing for all she could. “ALL OF THEM! DOGS!”

“Granny please,” Clara Lavender was sat on the couch, embarrassed.

“ _First_ one comes to this island, takes advantage of my poor daughter Chloe, then sails away again leaving her alone with the baby! _Now_ , one has come, taken advantage of my poor granddaughter Clara, AND GODDAMN SAILED AWAY AGAIN!”

“My father used to visit,” Clara reminded her, a hand sitting on her slightly swollen stomach. She had suspected her condition for a while now, and had decided to break the news to her granny.

Granny Clementine Lavender pointed a bony finger at her granddaughter, “Your father stayed long enough to become aware of you, this blonde bloody cook has no idea of his children! And being nakama of the aspiring pirate King, they won’t be back until they’ve found Raftel! _That will be never_!”

“Sanji might come back,” she argued, “He said he’d remember me!”

“ _That’s what they all say_.”

Clara frowned and looked away. Yes, she was annoyed at her predicament, twenty-one and already thrust into single-motherhood. But for all the hate she could muster, there had been something lovely about the pirate cook that she couldn’t place, and so she couldn’t quite come to feel animosity towards him. Besides, the miracle of life, right?

Sensing this mood, Granny Lavender came closer, with a calmer demeaner. “You’re too good for this world. Too kind, too forgiving. When he comes back, I’ll give him hell even if you won’t.”

“If it’ll make you feel better, Granny,” Clara smiled.

“If it’s a girl you need to name her Claire. Or Clancey.”

“Isn’t the whole names beginning with ‘CL’ thing a bit old,” Clara frowned, “Clementine, Chloe, Clara, isn’t it time for something new?”

“No. And God forbid you have a son. He’ll probably become a pirate, impregnate some unassuming girl then bugger off again.”

“ _Granny_.”

* * *

 

Clara thought of Sanji often. She saw his note on the fridge every day, but her growing belly meant she remembered every day the father of her child, who they may never meet. Sometimes she went down to the dock and stood there, watching the horizon his ship had disappeared over. Him and his funny captain waving enthusiastically goodbye.

She knew the villagers talked about her.

_Like mother like daughter. Only this one might not even visit like Chloe’s pirate did. I hear he doesn’t even know she’s pregnant._

_And she’s only twenty-one years old too_.

Clara often didn’t see her father for years at a time. He was around more when she was baby, but he either needed leave from his crew or the whole crew to visit, which as full-time pirates they didn’t really have time for. She was sixteen the last she had seen the man, and eighteen when she stopped scanning the horizon, hoping he would appear upon it. She was nineteen when her mother died. Her lovely mother, whose last words were the request to tell Peter goodbye if he ever came by again, and that Clara was the treasure of her life.

Peter was the best of men, cheerful and brave, Chloe never married for loving him. Clara loved him too when he visited, and always wished he would stay longer. She would stand and watch the horizon for hours even after he disappeared, and then look out wistfully on other days too, willing him to appear. It had been times with both her mother and father that had been the most dear to her.

 _I want them to meet him Sanji at least once_ , Clara thought. _Children should meet their fathers_.

She used to stand and look out to sea, to the horizon he had disappeared over.

So here she was, like she had for so many years before, standing looking out to sea hoping that a pirate ship might come into view, and a pirate she knew might step off and greet her. Would Sanji have stayed longer if she’d asked him to? Long enough to learn she had become pregnant?

No, he might have delayed a day at most. From what she had heard about Nami, the navigator was ruthless when it came to deadlines. Still, she stood looking out sea every morning, watching, just in case. Some days Granny stood with her, then chastised her and said no man is worth waiting so patiently for. Chloe made the same mistake, and did Peter ever come?

Four months in the doctor was frowning. “You seem a little far along. You’re sure this man is the father?”

“Yes,” she said, a little insulted. She didn’t exactly make a habit of sleeping with random sailors that docked.

He prodded her a little more. “Then it looks like its twins.”

“ _Twins_ ,” Granny groaned, “He left you twice as much trouble.”

“I always wanted a sibling when I was younger,” Clara said weakly. “It might be nice?”

“I’ll have to kick his ass twice as hard when the bastard gets back.”

Even as she grew, Clara tried her hardest to keep the stall running. Granny was a help of course, but she felt bad for making her retired grandma work harder. It was only bending down and taking things in and out of the oven that was tricky, really. They paid a local village boy in biscuits to help out in the kitchen. The note stayed on the fridge.

_Remember me, angel. Sanji xx_

She had looked on the other side. It was all ingredients, and someone in a different handwriting had written _meat!!! For Luffy! Many meat!_ But she liked reading the list all the same, written in that slanted handwriting. He seemed almost like a dream now, having been and gone in so short a period of time, but the children within her and his words on the paper reminded her it had not been.

Eight months in she was finding it hard to stand for long periods at a time. She could no longer work the stall without some pain, and the village boy was given actual beri to take over sometimes. The island was getting quite excited, it had been a while since anyone had had a kid. And there was a dramatic backstory too, a one night stand with a famous pirate!

There had been no sign of the ship. It had sailed seamlessly far away, keeping on course for Captain Luffy’s dream, the One Piece. Clara kept watching the horizon, anyway.

Nine months in and her water broke at seven a.m. on a Friday. Clementine screamed at the local boy to fetch the doctor, as she gripped Clara’s hand.

Eighteen hours later, early the next morning, the girl was delivered first.

Three minutes later, a boy.

Clara was sobbing, from pain or from joy no one was sure, but the two children were healthy and screaming very loudly. Clementine went to look at them as they were being cleaned up. “They’ve got stupid eyebrows,” she mentioned, “Curly like that pirate’s.”

“I liked his eyebrows,” Clara panted, defending her past lover as she always did. The boy was brought over and placed in Clara’s arms, but the doctor was peering down at the girl.

His gaze was a little serious. “She’s small, but healthy from what I can tell,” he brought her over to Clara, “You might need to be a little more gentle with her.”

The screams had died down into whimpers from the two babies, and even Clementine’s gaze had softened. “Claire and Claude, welcome to the family.”

“Sapphire and Cerulean,” Clara said sternly, “I want them to be called Sapphire and Cerulean.”

“You don’t owe him anything, Clara, why use the names he said off-handedly?” Clementine sighed, “Claire and Claude are such beautiful names.”

Clara stayed obstinate, “I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I want them to be called Sapphire and Cerulean!”

The look in Sanji’s eye when he had spoken about the All Blue had been nothing like she had ever seen. It had been a joke when he’d said they’d marry and have a son and a daughter, and name them Cerulean and Sapphire, but Clara knew there wasn’t any other certain way these two could have any connection to their father otherwise. They may never meet him, but she wanted them to know him. He was the cook of a pirate captain who wanted to find the All Blue, who would name his children Sapphire and Cerulean.

“What would my dear mother Clarissa say if she heard you now,” Clementine continued, but she was petting the blonde hair of the baby girl affectionately, “Or my grandmother Claudette.”

Clara smiled down at her two children. “She would say, welcome to the family little angels.”

* * *

 

Sapphire was indeed small. She cried more than her younger brother, who gurgled more than wailed, and got sick more often. The local boy, who they now called by his name, Jacob, had grown fond the family, and they him, and cheerfully took up a more permanent post on the bakery stall. Cerulean, who they referred to as Rulie, was friendly and grabbed at strangers when they came near. Sapphire sniffled and preferred only the company of her mother and her grandmother.

Even before they could talk Clara told them stories of the famous pirate Sanji, worth 177 million, who had fathered them. By the time they could stumble over single syllable words they were well versed in how Sanji had adored the waterfall, the way he had desperately whispered with his friend in order to get out of the chores so he could walk with Clara, and how he said any meal was delicious as long as it was made with love.

Unsurprisingly Cerulean was staggering on his feet long before little Sapphire, but determination filled her once she saw him starting to increase speed and intercept Jacob for treats as he went from the kitchen to the stall. With a little more help than her brother had needed she was soon toddling after him, and being a kind-hearted boy he often waited for her unless it was a snack or the good spot on mama’s lap on the line.

Clara got back to baking as soon as she could. She felt a twinge of wistfulness every time she made a croissant, but these days she could hardly picture Sanji’s face. _The humble cook would love a croissant_. It had been years since his visit to the island after all. Only if she remembered, she might look out to sea. Cerulean and Sapphire noticed this ritual and joined her.

“We’re looking to see if your father will come meet you,” she told them, “He will someday.”

“Where is he right now?” Cerulean asked, tugging on his mother’s sleeve. The tales of his father thrilled him, especially the very few ones Sanji had described to Clara about his near-death experiences.

“I don’t know exactly, he’s somewhere at sea, probably having an adventure.”

“Why won’t he come see us,” Sapphire pouted, “He should. Everyone else on the island has a father.”

“He has a duty to his captain,” Clara told her, taking their little hands and leading them away from the dock, “He can’t leave his side until they reach their goal. I haven’t seen my father since I was sixteen, he is loyal to his nakama.”

The twins didn’t quite understand yet, “Why can’t we be his nakama?”

“We are, in some ways.”

Sapphire took a liking to baking. She was still two inches shorter than Cerulean, and skinnier and more prone to colds, as well as shier, but far better at understanding the logistics of baking.

“No Rulie- you need to _soften_ the butter not melt it, the texture will be wrong,” she was telling her brother, whose lack of baking prowess was made up for by enthusiasm. However, he promptly made a U-turn and by the age of six was whipping up whole dinners by himself (with help to lift things), despite not being able to make a basic cake. Sapphire found cooking too uncontrolled and loose to enjoy, she preferred baking with its precise measurements, while Cerulean would toss whatever he felt like into the pan and create something delicious.

He was further enthused into cooking by the fact his father had been sous-chef at a restaurant before becoming a pirate, and was renowned for his skill.

Granny rather adored her great-grandchildren and although treated them with the sternness she did everyone else you could tell she was soft on them, especially little Sapphire. Jacob had become a bit of a fixture in their home too. His own father was a yeller, and he preferred the free, creative atmosphere of the Lavender household, even though the creativity of the twins often made things more hectic than free.

He came yelling into their house one morning, “MISS CLARA, MISS CLARA, HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS?”

“No,” she said, confused, “What’s happened?”

The headline read,

**Straw-hat Luffy reaches Raftel, claims the One Piece and becomes Pirate King!**

Her mouth dropping, she immediately started scanning the passage for that name she hadn’t heard in so long. **Among his crew are Roronoa Zoro, Cat burglar Nami, God Usopp, _Blackleg Sanji-_. ** She stopped reading and pointed at his name, “There’s your father, there’s your father, they mentioned him!”

The twins scrambled to get a look. There was a picture too, and though he was faded and almost blocked out by his crew mates, it was unarguably Sanji in the background of the photo. “That’s him, can you see him?” She felt ridiculous delight that she hadn’t encountered since that time a charming man had written her a note on the back of a shopping list, and she had stuck it on her fridge.

“The bastard’s still alive then,” Granny hummed, “Good, that means I can kill him.”

Clara was beaming at the photo, “His hair is longer- ah and he’s flipped his fringe again! Look at his eyebrows, they’re like yours!” She looked up at Jacob, eyes shining, “Thank you for showing me, dear!”

He looked a little bashful, “It’s nothing Miss Clara, everyone was talking about it in town is all.”

“He looks more like me,” Cerulean told Sapphire, “I look like him, don’t I?”

“That’s just because you’re a boy,” Sapphire snapped, annoyed at the lack of physical likeness between her and her father.

“Don’t you want to look more like me anyway?” Clara beamed, “Are you saying I’m ugly?”

The two clamoured to disagree with her, and even though she had been teasing there was nothing that could ruin her mood. The Straw-hats had reached Raftel, the end of their journey. Now was the time they might start making their way back. Her heart started thumping in excitement. He would visit, like he had promised those years ago.

The daily looking out to horizon started again, new enthusiasm in her heart. With the picture of Sanji cut out and on the fridge next to his now very old note, as well as the promise of seeing him soon, Cerulean was newly invigorated also. Sapphire never joined in. She didn’t like the feeling of disappointment at the end of the day when they hadn’t seen him.

“Do you think he’ll like me?” Cerulean worried, “What if he doesn’t like my cooking?” To his surprise, mama wasn’t listening, but was gazing out to sea through the window. _She really wants him to visit_ he thought. _She’s been waiting for him, and for her dad longer, I hope someone visits her soon._

At the kitchen table, Granny was writing a letter. She sent them on the postal ships that came once a month to her friends on other islands. _Maybe I could send letters to other islands and ask if they’ve seen him_.

Sapphire was sat quietly drawing. She too wanted nothing more than to meet the mysterious man they had never met, but whose presence they had always felt strongly in the house. But she kept to herself more, fear of disappointment stopping her from worrying like Cerulean and waiting like mama.

Mama began talking about the man more. He made her pancakes with strawberries and cream. He wore a black suit with shiny shoes and green shirt. His eyes were blue like Sapphire’s. (Cerulean had mama’s hazel ones). He complained about the swordsman of the ship bitterly, but with eyes bordering on fondness.

This man, so well described that they almost felt they knew him, would stop being a description soon and be a reality. Cerulean could feel it, it would be soon.

Another year passed. Ships are slow movers, mama reminded him, staring out to sea with the slightly sad look back on her face, instead of the hope she had had for a few months. “We’ll definitely see him one day.” She had stopped saying soon.

Cerulean was woken up by coughing one day. Not his, nor his sister’s, who was snoozing soundly still. It came from the next room. Mama was having a bad time. Thinking she might want some water he got out of bed to retrieve it for her, like she did for Sapphy when she had one of her sicknesses.

Clara smiled at the boy as he passed her the cup, her voice was weak as she said, “You’re such a good boy, Rulie. An angel.”

The cough got worse, and Granny moved in and the doctor started coming daily. Fear had begun to worm its way into Cerulean’s day, and Sapphire would stand and grip his hand as the doctor listened to her breathing. Jacob looked frowny and patted the twins at every opportunity he got.

“When will mama get better,” Cerulean demanded of Granny when the doctor left.

A look passed Granny’s face which he didn’t like. She was usually so stoic and snappish, and then gentle with Sapphire. “Please don’t make me tell him,” she whispered to no one in particular, “Oh God, why is this happening again.”

That evening, Sapphire and Cerulean were sat on the couch, and Granny with a very tight expression kneeling in front of them. “Do you remember what we said about your Grandma, Chloe, my daughter and your mama’s mama?”

“Yes,” Sapphire answered, “She fell in love with a pirate who stopped visiting.” _Different to our father_ , she thought, _who never visited once_.

“Yes, and,” Granny gulped, eyes becoming wet in the way she promised herself they wouldn’t became as she prepared herself for this conversation, “She got a terrible illness and died young.”

“Yes, mama was nineteen, and grandma not yet forty.” _It was a terrible business_ , Fisherman Dave had told Sapphire, _She wasn’t yet forty, even_.

“Well, your mama seems to have the same illness.”

This was the moment life stopped for Cerulean. The world stopped turning. Granny was saying something but he couldn’t hear it. Sapphy was gripping his arm so hard blood was drawing but he couldn’t feel it. He knew he was sat in his living room but he couldn’t see anything.

“Father never came,” was what Cerulean said, “She never got to see him again like she wanted to. He never came.”

That was when Cerulean started writing. Countless letters address to Blackleg Sanji, with a request on the back to please pass it on to him if you have seen him.

_Blackleg Sanji_

_This is your son. My mother is Clara Lavender and she is dying and would like to see you. My sister and I would also please like to meet you. Please come and visit Periwinkle Island as soon as you can._

_Cerulean Lavender_

_Blackleg Sanji_

_I don’t know if you remember Clara Lavender, but she remembers you, as you left her note asking her to, and she also had your children. I am one of them, please come visit Periwinkle Island as soon as you can, because she would like to see you before she dies._

_Cerulean Lavender_

 

_Blackleg Sanji_

_My mother hasn’t got long left, I would like you to come see her because she has waited for you for eight years. I’ve never met you either. Your son,_

_Cerulean Lavender_

 

“Cerulean, darling, you don’t need to,” Clara told him weakly, “He may be so far away the letters never reach him.”

“But I can try,” Cerulean insisted, “Someone might know someone who knows him and the message gets passed on!” She didn’t look convinced, but softened when he said, “Please, mama, I want to.”

Sapphire had gone very quiet, and rarely left her mother’s side, choosing instead to read to her and draw for her. She checked the horizon every day, as Clara was too weak to stand and look. Granny sniffed as she cooked for them. They closed the stall most of the time, and Jacob visited with bakes he had made himself. He had picked up some tricks in the years working for the Lavenders, and now eighteen was a young man with a lot of affection and loyalty for the family.

On Sundays, he tried his best to look after the stall by himself, and saddened villagers always made sure to buy something, and wish Clara well.

The horizon stayed empty, the way it had for those four years Clara waited for her father, and those eight years she waited for her children’s father.

Until one day, an unfamiliar ship appeared on the horizon. A pirate ship? Father?

It was early, no one else awake aside from Cerulean, who had awoken early to write his letters. Villagers had started giving him paper and stamps in solidarity. He bounded out of the house and down the path to the coast. On the way he met Jacob, who was strolling along the path to the marketplace.

“Morning, Rulie,” he called cheerfully, “Where you off to?”

“A ship!” he cried excitedly, “A pirate ship!”

Jacob gasped in excitement, “Can I come see too?”

The pair ran down to the docks together, equal in their glee.

The ship was closer now. It had lots of cannons, but from what Cerulean could tell, no iconic Straw Hat jolly roger. He and Jacob shared a sad look. All the same, he was curious and waited for it to dock.

“Maybe they’ve met your dad,” Jacob said, and Cerulean nodded fervently.

A man with a stupid feather hat jumped down and peered at the boy. “Are you Cerulean Lavender?”

Delight filled the young boy, “Yes! Do you know Blackleg Sanji?”

“Are you really his son?”

So his letters had reached people! This was great! He started hopping from toe to toe, “I sure am! See my eyebrows?” He pointed to them, they were trademark of his father, he knew.

The captain turned to his men. “Seems legit,” he said. “A man in a crew as rich as the Straw Hats will pay a handsome price for his son.”

Confusion gripped Cerulean. “What are you-”. He was grabbed, a handkerchief tied around his mouth and was promptly thrown onto the boat.

“O-Oi! What are you doing!” Jacob yelped, but a swift cannonball to the wooden docks and he was suddenly submerged in the icy morning waters. The explosion started to rouse villagers, but the ship had been hurried turned around and was racing away.

Jacob swam to shore and bolted to the sheriff’s office, who ordered boats be prepared, but the pirate ship was already disappearing over the horizon.

* * *

 

“DAMN PIRATES! DAMN GOOD FOR NOTHING PIRATES!” Plates were smashed against a wall, and Jacob patted a weeping Clara on the shoulder. Sapphire was sat in the corner, legs bunched up against her body.

“Wh-what’ll they do to him,” the mother sobbed.

“It seems like he’s being used for ransom” the sheriff said. His voice was filled with sympathy, this loving, friendly family had known nothing but hardship. An absent unaware father, a sudden deadly illness and now a kidnapped son. “He’s valuable to them as the son of Blackleg Sanji of the Pirate King’s crew.”

“Those letters, I sh-should have stopped him!”

“PIRATES ARE NOTHING BUT SCUM! SEE WHAT THIS MAN HAS DONE? HE HAS BROUGHT YOU NOTHING BUT PAIN!” A fifteenth plate was shattered against the wall by the raving Clementine. “It’s my fault, I should never have let you go to the waterfall with him. I should have learned from Chloe.”

“Are you saying, Clementine, you wish that Clara, Sapphire and Cerulean had never been born,” Sherriff pointed out a little gravely.

“Of course not, you stupid little man.” A plate was aimed at his head, he ducked and opened his mouth to complain, when someone else spoke.

“It should be alright though.”

A little voice had spoken from the corner, and they all turned to look at the little girl.

“The bad pirates’ll look for father, better than we’re able to, and he’ll pay them, and bring Cerulean back, right? You said he’s a formidable pirate.” She had been thinking in the corner for a while now.

“You have a lot of faith in a man you’ve never met,” Clementine spat, “What reason do you have to believe in him.”

“I’ll go wait for him.” Sapphire stood up, left the room, and stared out the window at the horizon, the way she had refused to for so long. But Cerulean was worth waiting for.

Even if their father had disappointed them for so long, he could make up for it now, and bring back her brother.

Day by day the little girl sat by the window. Even Clara was a little worried, even in the days she herself waited, she only stared for up to twenty minutes. Little Sapphy waited for hours, all day some times. Granny stopped telling her to leave the window, and brought the girl her dinner on a tray.

Jacob would come and sit with her. The doctor might too, for ten minutes after tending to her mother, whose health was deteriorating further with the stress of losing her son.

Sapphire only left her perch to go and kiss her mother’s pale cheek and read her a story, before going back to the window that faced the ocean and watching.

Watching watching watching.

She didn’t get bored, it was meditative. When she closed her eyes, she saw the horizon still, and dreamt of it, in all its lonely emptiness.

She sat and she waited. Sometimes tears fell down her cheeks, and someone, maybe Granny, wiped them away, but she watched until her eyes burned.

The sheriff gave her a little telescope to stop her eyes getting strained. The doctor some eye droplets. Jacob made her muffins.

Nothing today.

Nothing the next.

Until.

She thought, honest to God, she thought she was hallucinating when she saw a black dot appear.

A little, insignificant dot, but huge. It felt so huge she thought she might pass out. Probably a passing ship. Probably from a neighbouring island.

She pulled out her telescope. She looked at the flag.

On the flag, clear as day, skull and crossbones.

On the head of the skull, a straw hat.

A straw hat.

And she started bawling. Loud wails fell from her chest and fat tears down her face.

“MAMA! MAMA HE’S HERE! H-HE’S HERE! I WAITED AND HE CAME! MAMAAAAA!”

Clara Lavender was on the verge death, her pulse weak, her breaths shaky, but she flew out of bed as though she was as strong as any pirate captain, and bounded to her daughter to the distressed cries from Granny trying to get her to stop.

“Where? WHERE SAPPHY?”

And she took the telescope, and she looked, and she saw the ship, and as it drew closer she saw the man who she had only seen in her dreams for so long, and next to him their son, who was beaming.

Jacob was looking wildly around. “Him? Is it a-actually him? Finally?”

“Jacob go to the dock, run.” Clara’s legs buckled and Granny leapt for her, “RUN JACOB!”

And Jacob ran, he stood and he ran through the door, leaving Sapphire collapsed on the floor wailing and Clara to be helped back to her bedroom, but he ran.

Villagers recognised the ship. Well everyone did, it was the ship of the Pirate King, everyone knew it. But to this island it was something more. It was the ship that Clara Lavender, the lovely Clara, who had never spoken a word against the man who had so affected her life and forgotten her, had waited for for so long. Years and years. She raised his children, and every day she looked out to see and she waited for him to come meet her.

He was on this ship, Blackleg Sanji. The father of Cerulean and Sapphire who had waved goodbye so cheerfully, joined by his funny captain, without the slightest knowledge of the legacy he had left. A family beloved by the island, a whole village that scoured the newspaper for knowledge of him just to be the slightest help to the poor lady that waited and waited.

Every day they saw her on the dock. And if not on the dock, she was looking out the window.

And now too weak to do so, the little daughter who sat for days waiting in her place.

The horizon had stayed empty for so long, and here he was, sailing upon it, on his way to Periwinkle Island, eight years after leaving it, and leaving his children behind.

Jacob, the sheriff, the doctor, fisherman Dave, almost everyone started running to the docks, to meet this boat, and this man.

“CERULEAN!” Jacob shrieked, he could see the boy now, waving vigorously.

“HI JACOB! I MET HIM! MY FATHER! MY FATHER, JACOB!”

The boy turned behind a moment and yelled something that was lost in the wind. And then a man came up behind him, smoking a cigarette and dressed in a black dinner jacket. He picked up the boy, and his powerful legs carried him over the last stretch of water, and he landed nimbly on the dock.

Blonde hair, curly eyebrows and legs dressed in black trousers and black shoes.

“Hello,” he said, “I’m looking for Clara Lavender?”

“Well she’s been looking for you for long enough, you damn bastard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning on updating regularly for the first few chapters, and then maybe less so for the rest, but as its new I feel like for a little while I'll keep it updated every day or so. Thanks to the 1 comment and 6 Kudos so far it means a lot I mean it!  
> Next chapter will be ol' Sanjo again.  
> Also Clara's not in love with him he just left a big impression on her, and she wants her kids to have a father


	4. Catching up

It wasn’t nice in here. Cerulean had been tied up and placed in a small room that didn’t smell great. He was terrified out of his mind and furious too. His mother was ill, _dying_ , and here _he_ was tied up in a boat and for what? He’d messed everything up, was away from his sister, his mother, his granny and his father was probably sailing on the other side of the world, with no idea of his existence.

He had just… Wanted to meet the man _so badly_. The stories from his mother were so vivid he felt like he knew him already. He could visualise the slightly scruffy blonde hair, the charming, over-done demeaner. He just wanted to get him and finally but an end to mama’s waiting. He would kiss mama’s hand (she said he did this a total of five times in their day together), apologise for not coming sooner and promise to not leave again.

He knew this was unrealistic, mama told his many times of the duties of pirates to their captains, but he would stay long enough to cheer her up and be impressed by Cerulean’s cooking. Keeping himself distracted from his situation he played different scenarios in his head.

_Ah, this is exquisite, you are truly my son!_

_Clara, my angel, thank you for remembering me, I remembered you too, every day!_

_Sapphire you are truly the loveliest daughter in the world!_

_How could I ever have lived these years without knowing you?_

“Afternoon, brat, I have your meal,” and he was dragged out of his thoughts.

“My father won’t be happy,” Cerulean said, as he always did when someone entered, “He’s nakama of the pirate king.”

“We’re counting on it, that crew is filthy rich,” the pirate cackled.

“He’s strong too. He kicks people hard. He’ll kick you.”

“ _I’ll_ kick _you_ ,” the pirate swung at the child, and though it was a pretend swipe he flinched all the same, amusing the pirate to no end. “Stupid kid.” He left the room.

Biting his quivering lip, Cerulean went back into his head. _You were so brave, surviving that pirate ship. So brave_.

His butt was sore. So were his wrists. So were his eyes. He had tried to keep from crying the best he could, but at night when he was sure no one would come in there were some things a seven-year-old boy couldn’t hold back. The young boy had lost track of the time spent in this little room. It was the first time he had ever been away from home. Once fisherman Dave had taken him, Sapphy and mama to one of the neighbouring islands. It was much smaller, known as Lulu island, but just as pretty as Periwinkle. It had a waterfall, and they listened eagerly to today’s rendition of when mama had shown Sanji the one back at home, and they had sat by it for an hour talking together.

But Lulu was barely an hour's journey away from home, as opposed to the days’ journey he had been on. Had it been days? With no proper windows he couldn’t tell.

 _How will they even find father_ , he wondered. _I couldn’t do it, he’s probably miles and miles away._

He hadn’t known about the chances that had occurred for this plan to come about. The Cannonball Pirates had of course heard the gossip that the Straw-hats were back in the area. Interested, but not eager to fight with the most powerful crew in the new world. Then they had picked up a little letter, from a boy claiming to be the son of Blackleg Sanji, from a nearby little island of Periwinkle. Promptly, a plan formed. Grab the boy, ransom him and run off before the Straw-hats could think of revenge. If they hurried they could quickly catch up with the Pirate King and exchange the brat in a week.

Poor Cerulean was unaware of these facts, not aware that his father was nearby enough to rescue him fairly soon. Rulie was wondering what would happen if they got bored of looking for the Straw-hats. Probably they would knock him overboard and sigh for a wasted time. His lip started quivering again but he bit it back as the door swung open.

“Oi, we need a picture of you.”

“I don’t want one.”

“Touch luck, kiddo. Smile.”

He didn’t smile, but they seemed pleased enough with this, talking about how this ought to well up enough sympathy for the Straw-hats to pay up even if the Blackleg bastard denied paternity.

Denied paternity? Would Sanji refuse that he was even his? Had Cerulean been stupid all his life in believing his father might care for him, and agree immediately to father-son activities. _I have the eyebrows, he can’t deny we’re related because I have his eyebrows_ Cerulean decided. If he’s as nice as mama thinks he’ll want to rescue me. If they find him and tell him about me.

But blind hope seemed to run in the family, and he decided Sanji would definitely come for him. And take him back to Periwinkle and reunite with mama and in happiness she would get better and Sapphire would stop being so sickly too and Granny’s joints would stop hurting and the island would get lots of tourism so everyone wouldn’t be so poor.

What should Rulie say when they meet? _Hi, I’m your son, pleased to meet you._

_Why did you never visit, meanie?_

_H-hello, sir._

He decided that saying anything was fine as long as he didn’t start crying because that would be super embarrassing and he wanted his dad to think he was cool.

His butt was really starting to hurt though. He wished these cannon pirates might find his father soon because he was beginning to get bored instead of scared.

It was around this time he felt the boat come to a halt. Had they reached land for supplies? He heard the entire crew running in one direction, and then all standing very still in one spot.

A minute or two passed of quiet, aside for the muffled yells of a conversation from above- and a woman shouting “YOU ASSHOLE! YOU DEAD-BEAT DAD!” Were they attacking a passenger ship? Another moment passed and then-

Chaos.

Shouting, cannons firing, men screaming. Cerulean was starting to feel shaken again, it sounded like there was a full-scale battle up on top. Was that lightning he heard? And someone screaming “HANDS! HANDS!” He just hoped the sounds wouldn’t come closer.

A sound started to come closer, stomping of a clacky shoe making its way downstairs and towards his door. Fear gripped Cerulean as they stopped right outside his own room, and he yelped as the door was suddenly kicked in with such power it flew across the room and cracked the wall on the other side. Heart thumping, he opened his eyes to see the intruder.

And then his mouth dropped, and his heart fell out of his chest, because that was Blackleg Sanji standing before him. The one from all the stories, the one that was part of the Straw-hat pirate crew, the one that had made his mother pancakes with strawberries and cream and written a goodbye note on the back of a shopping list.

The one that had been a part of his imagination for so long, it felt surreal for the real man to be standing there before him, staring just as bewildered as Cerulean felt.

They stared in silence at each other for almost a full minute, when another crash from upstairs pulled them out of this trance.

Sanji spoke first. “Hello there. Are you the one that’s saying he’s my son?”

“I am your son,” Cerulean was staring at him with starry eyes, and then feeling a little intimidated by the tall, strong man added, “Sir.”

“Sir?” Sanji frowned down at him. He was quite tall, broad shouldered and dressed entirely in black, there was nothing unintimidating about him. That was, until his entire face softened, and he beamed with a smile so familiar it stunned Cerulean, before he realised it was the one he saw in the mirror, and on his sister’s face. This was the smile his mother had tried and failed to describe to its full credit.

“You don’t need to call me sir, I suppose you’d better call me _Papa_.”

And that was when Cerulean’s entire world became about 100 times better, and he beamed as though he hadn’t been tied up in a small dark room for almost a week. Sanji, his father, was standing before him with a bright grin and accepting Cerulean as his son. He knelt down to untie the boy’s hands and feet. “What can I call you?”

“Cerulean. But everyone calls me Rulie.”

Shock crossed Sanji’s features. “Cerulean?”

_We could have married, and had a son and a daughter! The daughter named Sapphire and the son **Cerulean**!_

Bless that girl, Sanji thought to himself, that dear girl. What a thing I have put her through. All these years, while I barely thought of her, she was raising my son. My son and his…

“Did the man say earlier you had a sister?”

“Sapphire!”

“Of course.” The man still looked surprised. “I can’t believe she remembered that.”

“Mama told us you told her that was what you’d name your kids,” Cerulean said, eager to prove he was definitely his son.

“I was half joking,” Sanji said dazedly. “That girl. So lovely, the loveliest lady I ever met.” He looked serious for a moment. “I’m so, so sorry about everything, Cerulean. I did a pretty bad thing, it seems.”

“That’s fine, mama said you were a pirate so it’s your job to go away for a long time,” he parroted the words his mother had told so many times. Sanji looked immeasurably touched.

“Too good, Clara, too good for this world,” Sanji muttered. “Alright, little one, can you stand?”

Cerulean tried it, and failed, stumbling over, and then a strong hand caught his shoulder and held him upright. “No worry, little guy,” and Cerulean found himself being lifted and held in one arm, despite being a grown seven-year-old. “Sorry about the noise up there, they tried to make us pay for you, so we decided to make them pay for kidnapping you.”

Glee was filling Cerulean now. _He’s cool and he isn’t rejecting me_.

“You don’t mind coming along on our ship, do you?”

“No!” Cerulean shouted, and Sanji grinned at him, turning and walking briskly up the stairs. The man was very fast, and the natural light up top was so bright it blinded the young boy for a second, who had been in that dim room for so long.

When the world was visible again, he could see about a hundred unconscious pirates lying about the deck, cut-in-half cannonballs scattered among them, and nine instantly recognisable pirates standing waiting.

“OOH! Is this your son, Sanji?”

And then the Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy was peering at him interestedly. “HA! He has your eyebrows!”

“The poor thing,” a gravelly voice spoke, and Cerulean saw it came from a green haired one-eyed man, who had three sheathed swords upon his hip.

“Shut it, idiot,” Sanji snapped, but it seemed half-hearted, directed at this swordsman. His father swatted away the captain. “Are we leaving? The boy needs a bath and a proper meal. Can you check for injuries, Chopper?”

Sanji was quite enjoying the feeling of looking out for the boy, one that was apparently his own. He’d ask about Clara later, but for now he needed to focus on Cerulean’s wellbeing. _A son_ he thought, _an actual son, and a daughter apparently_.

“Yup, yup, my medical supplies are on our ship, take him to the medical bay,” Chopper puffed up happily at the prospect of treating someone. He was also super eager to inspect Sanji’s apparent son. The captain called for everyone to go, and swung himself back onto their ship, grabbing Nami on the way in what he thought was assistance, but she decided was assault and he got a whack for his troubles. The rest followed, Zoro just subtly staying behind to dig his foot into Captain Balls’ hand.

Cerulean was looking around the huge ship wide eyed, “Is this all yours? Mama said your ship was average sized.”

“That was eight years ago, we upgraded since,” strangely eager to impress the boy and still carrying him Sanji made his way to the medical bay, Chopper scurrying a few steps ahead. The slight surrealness of being completely childless one moment, and then carrying his injured seven-year-old and chatting with him the next wasn’t lost on Sanji, but he wasn’t one for contemplation on these sorts of things. It wasn’t the first instance that in a short amount of time his life was suddenly turned on its head. He placed the boy on the medical bed and then retreated to lean against the wall while Chopper started prodding him.

“Does it hurt here?”

“Yes,” Cerulean looked delighted at being treated by a reindeer.

“Here?”

“No.”

“Here?”

“ _Owch_!”

A frown crosses Sanji’s face but Chopper simply muttered “bruising” and continued his inspection. It was now, the adrenaline of the fight worn off, that Sanji started to feel angry. His son, kidnapped and injured by some greedy, stupid pirates. He wondered if he should go back and leave a well-placed kick to sink the ship. And then the logistics of things caught up with him too. What did Zoro think? Would he have to pay child support (not a problem with his wealth but still)? Is Clara furious at him, never wanting to see the absent father again? _What about Zoro_?? His husband, suddenly landed with a seven-year-old stepson and stepdaughter. Is he mad at me, he seemed quiet earlier, Sanji was wondering. This child might be in danger by being mine, can I just leave them unattended on the island? Am I actually any good as a father?

 _I need a cigarette_ he thought, but moving to leave Cerulean turned sharply to him, so stayed where he was instead.

Chopper was just finishing up, and pulled out the box of novelty Straw-hat band aids they had picked up ironically a few months back. “Which one would you like?”

“This one!” he pointed eagerly to the one with Sanji’s face on it, and Chopper placed it on the little cut on his collar bone that seemed to be the worst injury besides a few rope burns and bruises. “You two should probably talk,” and he skipped out, no doubt to gossip with the rest of Sanji’s nosy nakama. And now here he was, face to face alone with his child, who he hadn’t known about until less than an hour ago.

Cerulean broke the silence. “Is that a wedding ring?”

Sanji looked sharply to his left hand. “Yeah, it is.” Cerulean looked slightly worried.

“Do you have other kids?”

“No, no,” he said quickly, “I didn’t think I had any until today.”

“You might have more, ones like us.” What an honest child.

Fear gripped Sanji for a second, before he remembered how unlucky he tended to be with ladies, and that it had been a miracle in a million when Clara had accepted his advances. He wasn’t sure how to put it to his son that he was rejected 19 times out of 20, so he just said, “I don’t think so, your mother was one of a few.”

Cerulean looked pleased at that, “Granny said you were probably a lady’s man who tricked at least one girl on every island and probably more.”

Granny? “Clementine?”

“Yes!” Cerulean beamed, “You met her?”

“Twice, briefly, both times she didn’t seem to like me,” Sanji remembered.

_Don’t fall for anything he says_

_Don’t trust passing pirates!_

“I suppose she had reason to.”

“Granny’s nice really. Were you ever going to come back and visit?”

“Sorry?” this surprised Sanji a little.

“Mama used to wait for you and stare out to sea hoping you might come back so you could meet us,” he explained, and suddenly crippling guilt unlike no other was pressing into Sanji’s side, because he so rarely thought of this poor woman, who had been thinking so often of him. He had been living his life as usual in blissful ignorance, gotten married, lived a generally dangerous and free lifestyle, while his children were being cared for by poor Clara and she forced to wonder if he may never return or ever know that they existed.

“I- I mean we are in the area anyway, so it’s likely we’d have ended up at Periwinkle,” Sanji said, only half lying, because they might have, but realistically the island was quite out of the way, it had been almost an accident when they ended up there the first time. “How is Clara?”

“Mama’s dying, that’s why I wanted to meet you.”

Sanji froze. “Dying? What do you mean?”

“She’s been ill for a while and she wanted to meet you again, and I did too, so I decided to look for you.”

Oh God. Clara, that lovely Clara, dying? And he might still have never met the two children, leaving them alone and parentless? _I’m a terrible person_.

“I’m, I’m so sorry,” Sanji managed. “That poor girl, she deserved the world.”

“But we’re going to Periwinkle Island right now?”

“We need to get you back there in any case, and I need to apologise to everyone on that island and try to evade the inevitable wrath of Clementine,” he looked nervously at his son, “Did she ever seem angry at me?”

“She told me she often had pleasant dreams of hanging your head on her wall,” Cerulean told him sympathetically. “But mama stood up for you.”

“As kind as she was beautiful,” Sanji muttered. “I did quite a number on your family, didn’t I?”

“Mm.” Cerulean agreed. _Savage_ , Sanji thought.

“Is there any chance she’ll get better?” On his adventures, he himself had caught ailments that had left Chopper solemnly announcing his impending demise, before coming up with something creative and new and often painful, and then he’d be back from the dead.

“The doctor doesn’t think so, her mom died from the same illness.” Sadness was crossing Cerulean’s face, so intense Sanji hurriedly changed the subject.

“Tell me about your sister, Sapphire.”

* * *

 

“Sanji as a father wow.” As predicted, the crew were sat in the galley drinking tea and gossiping. Usopp was shaking his head. “He ruined the life of some poor island girl and never even knew about it.”

“What are you gonna do, Zoro?” Luffy asked. He’d skipped the tea for the rare opportunity of eating the snacks Sanji had forgotten to lock away while the cook was occupied.

“Me?” Zoro frowned. It had been a pretty deep surprise to him, his husband suddenly appearing from below deck with a pretty identical copy of himself, apparently his long-lost son. But he’d considered it Sanji’s business. As long as the cook wasn’t running off to marry the mother of the kid he wasn’t particularly bothered.

“He’s your step-son, isn’t he?” Nami reminded him, “Isn’t the child of your husband your child? You can’t be this dense.”

“Well I mean, it’s kind of fine.”

“THIS IS A BIG DEAL,” she punched him on top of his head, “Take this seriously!”

“I’m not going to leave Sanji, so we’ll just have to deal with what comes,” Zoro shrugged. Nami looked annoyed.

“You make everything complicated seem simple. Children are tricky, Zoro!”

“Yeah, what if he hates you,” Usopp yawned. A hand grew out of his shoulder and pulled at his nose sharply. “I meant, all kids love you everything will be fine.”

They heard a cheerful child’s voice approaching and shut up as Sanji and the boy entered the galley.

“So then they threw me onto the boat and shot a cannon at the docks and Jacob fell into the water! Then I was tied up for a while before you guys came. Wow this kitchen is big!”

“I like to have space to cook,” Sanji said. “Erm, everyone this is Cerulean, Cerulean this is everyone.”

“Which one are you married to?”

“The green loser.”

Cerulean, apparently a very confident boy, bounded over to the swordsman and peered up, “Cool. I never thought I’d have the famous pirate hunter as a stepfather. Where’s your other eye?”

“Lost it,” Zoro told him, truthfully, oddly pleased that the boy wanted to come talk to him.

“I lost an eye once,” Usopp cut in, “But I bravely fought the guy who took it and got it back!”

“That’s not scientifically possible,” Cerulean told him, “But I like the story. Who took the eye?”

“A monstrous sea hag,” Usopp continued, not bothered by the fact it was clear he wasn’t believed, “She collected them and put them in jars because she was attention seeking and wanted to be watched all the time.”

“So, Cerulean,” Nami cut in, “Your mother, what’s she like? I never got to meet her.” It was irritating, this huge moment of meeting their nakama’s secret son for the first time, and it was being taken up with tales of sea hags.

“She’s a baker! She’s very ill right now,” Cerulean told her, “I have her colour eyes! My sister has Papa’s.”

 _Papa_ , Franky mouthed to Robin, _Superrr cute_.

“Of course, there are two of you,” Nami remembered, “What’s her name?”

“Sapphire Claire Lavender,” Cerulean said, “We had to give her the middle name Claire because otherwise Granny said she’d refuse to accept us into the family. I’m Cerulean Claude but most people call me Rulie.”

“Clementine was quite terrifying when I met her,” Sanji had moved into the kitchen and was moving pots and pans about, “What do you like eating?”

 _He’s handling this remarkably well_ , Robin thought, _for someone who quite easily becomes unhinged. He could barely handle learning swordsman-san had feelings for him_.

“Scallops!”

Sanji hummed, “Scallops it is. You’re a man after my own heart.”

Cerulean, despite his trauma, was very chatty, and very eager to commandeer his father’s attention so he could describe every aspect of his life to him. Nami had checked the map and said it would take five days for them to reach Periwinkle, maybe a little less if the wind was on their side. The young boy was glad his father was still the good humoured man his mother had described, but he got his first taste of the wrath of Blackleg Sanji when he witnessed Luffy getting a kick to the head for eating the cupcakes Sanji had left out to cool. He seemed to calm down quickly, and muttered,

“If you’d waited five minutes I could’ve iced them for you.”

Cerulean asked to be shown around the ship, and Sanji complied. The two got on very well, all things considered, and Cerulean’s boundless energy enthused Sanji into a good mood rather than an annoyed one he might have gotten from anyone else.

He’d already seen the galley, kitchen and medical bay, so Cerulean was taken to the library first, a large room lined with all sorts of books (mostly Robin and Chopper’s), and then to the aquarium which he liked a lot. They used it to keep fish fresh for eating later, and on occasion ate dinner down there if they were in the mood. There was also a formal dining room, which they used only when Nami said they needed to give the impression they were a serious, formidable Pirate King crew, or had enough guests that they couldn’t eat in the galley. Usopp’s office where he sat inventing, and Franky’s office for similar things. Robin had an office too, and Nami, and there was also a sauna as well as a few bathrooms. Everyone had their own bedroom, apart from Zoro and Sanji who shared, and there was one spare they kept for guests.

“We’ll probably put you in there,” Sanji said, “I’ll get you a towel.”

The room that most impressed Cerulean was the music room, large and spacious with a grand piano in the centre and various other instruments along the sides. There were chairs for the crew to sit at while Brook played for them, and a small desk for composition. “He prefers to write his music on the go though, in the orange grove or in the galley, he says it’s more inspiring.”

The last place to see was the games room. They liked hanging out in the galley mostly, or on deck where they’d play cards or board games, but on cold rainy days they tended to come down here, and store all their stuff here at least. It also had the pinball machine and foosball table, which couldn’t be moved up the stairs to the deck.

“That’s everything,” Sanji said, “Apart from the orange grove.”

“Can I see that?”

“Sure, but I can’t be held accountable for your life if you pick an orange without Nami’s permission.”

So, they ended up sitting in the orange tree grove. Nami had graciously allowed them an orange each, and Cerulean was eagerly tasting it, as no such fruit grew or made their way to Periwinkle Island.

They weren’t talking now, both very aware of the enormity of the situation. Cerulean, who had longed to meet his father for so long, and was now sitting with him on his boat. And Sanji, who yesterday had considered his only family his old man and husband (and nakama), had suddenly a son thrust upon him who had idealised him since the days he could think for himself, while Sanji hadn’t even known of his existence.

“Will you visit more, now you know about us,” Cerulean munched on his orange, “It’s just mama’s dad never visited for 11 years and it made her upset.”

“Definitely,” Sanji promised. “I know I’ve been an awful father up until now, but I can make up for it! I can always be there for you and Sapphire.” He had a determined look on his face, ready to make up for his wrongs.

“You haven’t been an awful father, you just haven’t been a father,” Cerulean said, “Jacob has an awful father. He yelled at him when he was younger and forgot to feed him.”

“One thing I can promise, is that upon my ship no one’s meals are forgotten,” Sanji said seriously, “If you try and miss a meal I’ll force it down your throat.”

“That’s good, I like eating,” Cerulean a little meekly added, “I like cooking, too.”

Delighted Sanji asked, “You do? You’re like me! Who taught you?”

“I mostly taught myself,” the boy admitted, “I read lots of books.”

“Books?” Sanji blanched, insulted. No son of his was getting a half-assed cooking education. “I’ll teach you some things, if you want. My old man taught me, after all.”

Cerulean beamed as though the whole world had been given to him.

* * *

 

Later that evening it occurred to Cerulean there was one area he hadn’t seen, the crow’s nest. So, when Papa became distracted by an attempted robbery into the fridge, the culprit a rubber Pirate King, Cerulean climbed up himself into the room.

It seemed to double as a training room, as there in the centre was Roronoa Zoro, doing a handstand and lifting weights the size of two small cars with his feet.

“Hello.”

Zoro was surprised to look up and see the young boy, his husband’s son, standing before him. They were indeed similar looking, though Cerulean’s eyes were hazel, his hair more brownish and his features softer.

“You’re my stepfather, right?”

“That’s right,” Zoro said cautiously, placing the weights on the floor slowly and getting to his feet. He wasn’t quite sure how to address the situation. Should he try and be fatherly? How does one try and be fatherly? Is Sanji even going to try and be fatherly, what if the mother wants to raise the boy solely by herself? Sanji _did_ say to be called Papa, but had he been including Zoro in his picture of family life? The boy already had two parents, he didn’t need a third, especially not a scary looking guy like himself.

“Should I call you step-father? Or other Dad?”

This stopped Zoro cold. The boy was very forward and honest with his feelings. “I- I mean, whatever you like?”

“Are you annoyed that I exist?” Cerulean continued.

Jesus Christ, who was this kid? He answered truthfully, “No. You can’t be annoyed at things that can’t be helped.”

Cerulean nodded. “Could you show me some cool tricks with your swords?”

Would Sanji be mad about this? Maybe, maybe not. You can’t be annoyed at things that can’t be helped. “Yeah. Sure thing, kiddo.”

When Sanji yelled for dinner, wondering where his son had gotten to and if he had just been a figment of his imagination, he wasn’t sure whether to be terrified or pleased to see Cerulean chatting enthusiastically with Zoro, who was smiling at him fondly. A sudden premonition struck him, that of a family. He and Zoro couldn’t have kids themselves, but maybe this sudden situation could be a blessing in disguise? They could try to be real parents to the two children.

No, their mother wouldn’t let them go, nor would the island want to give away these two children to a group of pirates, would they? Still, he decided he was pleased that they were getting along. _Almost better than Cerulean and me_. He decided he wasn’t pleased that they were getting along.

He almost threw up when Cerulean called Zoro Other-Dad.

* * *

 

After a week of being kidnapped and a day of being under constant interrogating from an excited crew, Cerulean essentially passed out in the bed they gave him just before ten.

“What a good boy,” Chopper yawned, going to bed himself. He hadn't said anything, but they knew he was pleased to not be the youngest for once. Luffy and Franky took up positions keeping watch, and eventually Zoro and Sanji were left alone for the first time since they been introduced to Sanji’s child.

It was then that it occurred to Sanji the burden he was placing on his husband, and discomfort and guilt wormed their way into his heart. “I’m so sorry.”

“About what?” Zoro said, standing and going to stand near his husband. 

“Well, I kind of just threw this thing at you and you didn’t even get a say and now I’ve got two kids and we never really talked about having kids so it’s okay if your mad.” His husband was starting to look upset, so Zoro used his thumb to stroke Sanji’s cheekbone.

“I’m not mad.”

“You’re not?”

“I’d only be mad if you try and abandon the kid. We're married right, so I'll support you,” Zoro said, “You always wanted kids, anyway. And I’ve always liked them.”

Sanji stared at him for a moment, before throwing himself fully into his arms. “You’re so good, so, so good. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Zoro stroked his hair, heavily enjoying the treat of having Sanji in his arms. And seeing as he was in a compliant mood… “You know, seeing as I’ve been such a good husband,” he started nibbling along Sanji’s collarbone.

“Are you serious? You’re in the mood right now?”

“Yeah.”

And well, the way he was using his mouth did feel nice, and Zoro _had_ been a good husband, and they _were_ alone for the night…

* * *

 

 _Day 1_ Cerulean scribbled into a notebook Robin gave him. _I have been rescued and met Blackleg Sanji! He asked me to call him Papa! He feels very bad about not knowing we existed and also wants to teach me how to cook. Their ship is very big and apparently other-dad gets lost in it often._

The next morning, he roused early and went to the kitchen, where sure enough there Sanji was, and starting to make breakfast.

“Ah Cerulean, so you weren’t a strange dream,” Sanji said in a friendly tone. “I’m making pancakes, how do you want yours?”

“With strawberries and cream,” came the immediate answer.

“That was how your mother liked them,” Sanji mused, and Cerulean grinned.

“When will you start teaching me stuff?”

“Whenever. Right now, if you want, Rules.”

Rules, a different nickname to the one he was usually given, Rulie, but he liked the way it sounded coming out of papa’s mouth so he simply nodded and scampered over to the kitchen area. He had heard dire stories from Usopp about those who entered the sacred kitchen uninvited, but papa had offered to teach him to cook, so he needed to be in there.

To his delight, the older cook was openly impressed about the seven-year-old’s cooking skills. “When I was seven I could barely put together a lunch bento,” Sanji told him, “My mother used to eat them anyway, despite the fact they were disgusting. My father tried to get me stop cooking, though.”

“I thought your father was a chef?”

“My old man is a chef,” Sanji said. “He took me in when I was nine, my biological father was someone else.”

Something about his tone made Cerulean press no further, and he did remember now mama mentioning that Sanji was adopted.

“So, you have a mom and two dads too,” Cerulean noted.

 _Two dads_ Sanji thought but didn’t say, “Sure.”

It was during these little cooking sessions that father and son bonded a little more. Sanji filled in gaps of Cerulean’s knowledge, such as his birthday was March 2nd, the Baratie was situated in the East Blue near to the entrance of the grand line. His old man’s name is Zeff, and he used to be pirate too.

“All of my grandpas are pirates,” Cerulean mentioned.

He had quite a bit of fun with the rest of the crew too. Chopper, Luffy and Usopp were great for games. Nami was scary, but liked kids and showed him around her orange grove in detail, shocked he hadn’t seen one before. Robin was definitely very interested in _him_ , intrigued by the idea of cook-san’s offspring. Franky was the coolest, he decided.

But when papa was busy, he mostly liked to go and sit with Zoro, who would tell him the stories about Sanji that Sanji would have preferred to have been secret. He had been in love with Nami for years and years before switching to Zoro, he was terrified of spiders and he liked having his hair petted.

One night, these stories had gone on later than a young child should be awake for, and Cerulean had laid his head on Zoro’s lap and started snoring, and Zoro honest to God felt his heart of ice melting.

Cerulean was quite a welcome member of the straw-hat pirates, but before anything or anyone else he wanted to get back home to his mama and sister. He spoke enthusiastically about them, Sapphy was way smart even though she got sick a lot and was short, and mama was the best baker in the world and had never said a word against Papa in her life, even though Granny said many a word against him.

So when he was standing with Captain Luffy / Pirate King Luffy or just Uncle Luffy as he was told eagerly to call him, he started screeching at the sight of the familiar island coming nearer.

“Look, look! Periwinkle! I was born here!”

Nervousness took Sanji again, and guilt. On this island would be the angel Clara, as well his yet estranged daughter Sapphire, a furious great-grandmother and an island full of judgemental villagers. He had faced adversaries that could have killed him with one hit, but his heart was thumping now harder than in those moments.

“HI JACOB! I MET HIM! MY FATHER! MY FATHER, JACOB!”

Cerulean had caught sight of a friend, and was waving like a hooligan. He turned to shout at Sanji, “Papa! Can you carry me over, I want to see them!” So Sanji stepped forward, picked up the boy and jumped to what looked like a newly fixed dock, and stood facing a large crowd of shook villagers.

“Hello. I’m looking for Clara Lavender?” He impressed himself with the steadiness of his voice.

“Well she’s been looking for you for long enough, you damn bastard.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a long 'un. I'm enjoying writing this though and I've got a bunch of ideas yet. Comments make me superrrr happy!


	5. What was taken away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This a heavy one. Warnings for minor character death

Cerulean squirmed free of Sanji’s arms and skipped over to Jacob. “It’s actually him! How cool, right?”

“Yeah, Rulie,” Jacob ruffled the boy’s hair, “We were all worried about you, you’ve been gone almost two weeks.” A bit of an understatement, the island had been in turmoil and his younger sister practically a zombie.

“I was with papa’s crew for a while,” Cerulean told him, “Oh! Oh! I have two dads, did you know? Papa married Roronoa Zoro a few years ago.” The boy started stumbling over his words to try and get in every detail of the few days he had spent on the crew of the Pirate King, and more importantly, in his eyes, the crew of his father. There didn’t seem to be an ounce of trauma left with him, or any particularly visible injury.

Blackleg Sanji had stayed quiet, scanning the crowd that had gathered. He froze when he caught sight of the one he so feared.

“ _So you finally show your face here again_.”

“Clementine,” Sanji said weakly, as his blood ran cold “It’s been a while.”

“A while?” the lady’s face as a beacon of fury, “Eight _god damn_ years, your pirate scum!”

The crowd were muttering eagerly, having awaited this moment for years. A similar one had occurred each time Peter returned home from a voyage to Chloe, and the fact that he hadn’t been seen in eleven years coupled with the eight years that Sanji had been gone, and Clementine Lavender was more than ready for the beat down of the century.

The straw-hats seemed uninclined to help their cook, watching eagerly (like psychopaths, Sanji thought bitterly) from the ship.

“What have you got to say for yourself?”

“I’m, sorry?” Sanji managed.

Not a good plan. “ _Sorry?_ ”. A slipper appeared in her hand, and there was an acute pain in his head as she whacked him hard with it, harder than an elderly woman should be able to whack a person.

“Ooh damn,” someone in the crowd whispered. Sanji could hear his alleged friends sniggering too. It seemed as though he might be about to get another whack, when Cerulean, an angel sent from God, tugged at her sleeve.

“Can we go see mama now? You can hit papa later.”

_Not so much an angel. He’s a traitor too._

Her expression softened as she looked down at her great-grandson, alive and well after weeks of worrying. “Yes, yes, let’s go.” She turned to Sanji. “I’ll kill you later.” She managed to hide well her happiness at the look of terror on his face.

“Come on, papa!” Cerulean skipped back and grabbed his father’s free hand (the other was rubbing his bruised head) and started leading him quickly to his house, “She’ll be so pleased to see you, she watched the ocean every day! You took a while but here you are!”

The island felt familiar to Sanji, even though he hadn’t been there in eight years. The market place largely the same, the colour of the grass and the patch of woods with the path that led to the waterfall. He even recognised a few villagers, though eight years ago they weren’t watching him with fervent fascination. Clara still lived in the same house. His heart started aching at the familiarity of it all, everything still in the same place.

It still smelled the same, though smell of baking wasn’t as strong as it had been eight years ago. Considering Clara was on her death bed, there was a reason for that. His eyes watered as he caught sight of the fridge, and saw a weathered note.

_Remember me, angel._

She didn’t really have a choice but to, Sanji considered. I left her something to remember me by other than the note.

He felt nervous, sickly nervous. To now need to face the woman he had so sorely mistreated and also _dying_ , and with the two children they had had together but not shared all in the same house. _Two children_ , he remembered, suddenly. So far he’d only met the one.

On the couch sat a little girl, curly eyebrows, familiar blue eyes and blonde hair, sitting and staring at him like he was a ghost.

“Sapphy, I found him, my letters worked somehow!” Cerulean laughed, bounding over to his sister to grab her hands. “You weren’t too worried, were you? I was having a great time! Papa taught me how to sauté mushrooms!”

Dumbstruck, gaze flicking from her brother to her father, she stayed silent. She had no idea what to say, the day had all been too much for the little girl, who felt like three giant waves were crashing against her at once and trying to drag her in three directions into their currents. But her father was looking at her very softly, soothing her nerves. He looked like he wanted to say something, when they heard a cough from the bedroom.

“MAMA!” And Cerulean remembered the reason for his mission, and who was lying sick in her bedroom, and raced in. He reached to grab her pale hands and squeezed them. “I did it! I found him for you! Are you happy?”

She freed a hand to stroke it through his soft, child’s hair, “Very happy, Rulie. I’m so very happy that your home and safe.”

“And what about papa? He told me to call him papa!”

“He did?”

“I did.” Her gaze flicked up, and in the doorway was the man who simply refused to turn up on the horizon. He looked about the same as before, longer hair, broader shoulders, but in his eyes instead of that bright passion and laughter, sadness. He looked at her with complete sadness, for the vibrant, laughing angel he had known had vanished completely. “They’re mine, I can definitely tell,” he continued moving closer. “I’m sorry for taking so long, Clara, angel.” He took her hand and kissed it.

“That’s alright,” she said, her gaze not moving from him even as Sapphire came in, “You were busy.”

“I would’ve- I mean, had I known-.”

“No, no, don’t worry, it’s no one fault,” her face was gentle and crystal clear. It was fragile and tired and weak, but her eyes were sincere and open, as she stared with complete forgiveness at a man who deserved none.

“It’s almost entirely my fault, actually,” he said, gaze going sheepish, but a smile forming on his lips.

“Well, I invited you to the waterfall,” her voice had gone teasing, the same tone it had had back when life was simple and un-heartbreaking. He remembered why he had been so enchanted with her, so desperate to stay in her company. How could he have forgotten her so easily? What had she been doing, being interested in a man like him?

Her eyes caught sight of his ring. “You’re married?”

He felt guilty suddenly, apologetic. “Yeah.”

Cerulean cut in, “I like other-dad, he’s got green hair and argues with Papa all the time.”

Clara looked amused suddenly, whether it was at Cerulean’s statement, or the idea that Sanji had ended up with a man when he had seemed so adoring of women, it wasn’t clear.

The playful glint in her eye vanished as she began coughing, violently, and Granny rushed in. Her hand was torn from Sanji’s grip as the coughing continued and continued until he thought she might cough herself inside out and vanish. The cough of a dying person.

“Is it very bad?” he asked softly, moving to take her fingers again. Sapphire and Cerulean had bolted forwards to clutch at her legs.

“I was just holding on to see you again,” she said, her gaze going worryingly calm, “Just so you could meet them.”

“You can’t leave, mama, Papa’s here to cheer you up and make you feel better,” Cerulean’s eyes were filling up, “Don’t you feel better?”

“I’m so sorry, treasures, to leave you so soon,” she told them, “I wanted so much to see you grow.”

“But you'll get better, better,” Cerulean insisted chokingly,

Sanji felt out of place. A mother, with her two crying children and grandmother surrounding her, and then him. He was a stranger really, he had done nothing for them to like him at all, yet he was tied so strongly to them. Him and his presence meant so much to them, while he stood in the room of a dying woman he had known once, an intruder.

“Is there anything I can do, in recompense,” he begged. “Please, I’m so, so sorry.”

“Sanji, throughout my whole life there was something I missed,” Clara said, gaze returning to that look of clarity, “my father. Please, I can’t stay any longer, don’t leave them either.” Desperation intruded her eyes, and he wanted nothing more than to soothe it. He had no idea of what she had been through, of what it meant to her for her children’s father to return, but he said,

“I won’t, I promise.”

“I don’t want them to sit waiting for you,” he voice was diminishing into a rasp, light fading.

“I'll never be more than a moment away,” Sanji insisted, “Never more.”

The desperation faded, “thank you.”

Cerulean was gasping for air, shocked to the core of what was happening in front of him. “Are you happy, mama, are you happy I brought him for you? You’ll never need to wait again.”

“Yes, Rulie, my darling, yes.” She touched his cheek and turned to her daughter. “Sapphy, you’ve just met him, but be good for your father, alright, good like you always are.” Sapphire started back away, into the wall, not wanting to face reality.

“I’m so sorry, Clara, I’m so sorry,” Sanji said over and over, his own eyes were welling up. He got to his knees. “Unimaginably sorry.”

“Don’t carry it with you, dear, don’t.” She smiled, and her body went limp as her eyes turned to the ceiling. “Take them, I give them to your keeping.”

And then, with one last ounce of strength, “Remember me, angels.”

And then she was gone, her last breath left her body and Sanji felt as though his heart had left his. He started wide eyes, horrified and somehow heartbroken. What was he doing here? He had no right to take these children, they deserved their mother, their darling mother. Sapphire started all but screaming, and Clementine crouched and attempted to soothe her, but she was blind and deaf to all. It was so much all too much. Sanji wanted to scream too, how could he keep control in a situation like this? And then, Sanji felt something take hold his leg.

Cerulean, making no noise but large tears rolling down his cheeks, had come and held his leg.

_I’m a father_ , Sanji thought. That’s what I am now. They’ve lost their mother, and now I’m their only parent and this is my right. And he crouched down and let his son bawl onto his shoulder, and he thought, I will protect them. They are mine, and mine they’ll stay.

* * *

 

News spread rapidly through the town. The straw-hats heard of it in the town centre, where they had been sat talking to locals about the Lavender family.

“So he never mentioned Clara once to you all?” the islanders were all rather scathing of the pirate cook.

“When we saw waterfalls, he used to say the nicest one he’d seen had been here,” Usopp told them. The strange turn of events kept getting stranger. An island where Sanji was a kind of celebrity for having kids with one of the villagers, and also a local enemy for not coming back once. He decided to try and paint his friend a little better. “But he got a special look in his eye, you could tell he was thinking about a past love!”

“It’s not as though he was liberty to tell everything,” the navigator told them, “He got into a committed relationship not long after meeting her, and who goes on about flings then?”

It was a fairly different experience being on an island where they didn’t particularly care about the presence of the Pirate King, but hung onto every word about his cook. Not that Luffy cared, he had started to become peckish and was snooping around hoping to find a snack. He hoped Sanji was done talking to his ex-girlfriend soon. So did Zoro, who was feeling the most uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the islanders, who had quickly found out he was married to Sanji.

“You’re married to him then? What’s he like, any sort of father figure?”

“He’s nice to kids,” Zoro said shortly. It was true, Sanji was civil to them and happy to pat them on the head, but at Baratie he’d not no real experience with them aside from a few snotty brats taken there by their parents, so didn’t particularly adore them. In the couple, it was Zoro who actively liked kids, and they liked him. “He’s never had anyone to be a father figure to before.”

Robin was interested to learn more about the twins and had located the gossipiest crowd she could find, feeding them titbits about Sanji in return.

“The girl, Sapphy, reeaal smart, but small since birth and can’t move very quickly. She gets sick a lot, you always see her with a cold. Cerulean is more funny and outgoing. So, what’s up with Sanji and Zoro?”

“They danced around sexual tension for years,” Robin told them “Then kissed drunkenly under the orange trees, then danced around even more tension before starting dating, and they got married a week after Luffy was crowned the Pirate King. What’s the likelihood that the children _aren’t_ Sanji’s?”

“0%, for sure,” the girl told her, “Clara’s not a liar and Clementine would have sniffed out any other boyfriend. Is Sanji gay, bi or is Zoro very persuasive?”

But Robin had been distracted by the change in mood passing through the town. One whispered something to another, and their morose mood passed on, and so forth. She extended a spy ear using her power. “-dead, poor thing. The pirate got here just in time to see her go.” She looked over to her crew mates and saw them learning the news too.

Zoro had an expression she couldn’t place, but she knew it was in the variety of _this is worrying_ and _where’s Sanji_?

* * *

 

Sanji was stood in the kitchen of Clara’s house, staring at the fridge. At the note, and at the newspaper clipping. An arrow had been drawn to where he was stood in the background, and “dad” written. That week, God what a time. Nothing but drinking, celebrations, mindless partying with every pirate who was anybody and culminating with the decision to suddenly get hooked when they found a town hall that did quickie weddings. And during this time, the young family had been reading about it. The knowledge of his marriage hadn’t been spread, but most people knew about it. Newspapers liked to focus on the King himself, while it was gossip mags that speculated on the appearance of two rings on two fingers of two members of the crew.

“They were so excited to see you mentioned,” said Clementine, appearing suddenly. The two kids hadn’t left the room with their mother, but Sanji had needed air. “They thought now that your captain had found its goal, you would make your way back.”

“Raftel is far away,” Sanji said.

“Not so far that you’d take this long getting here,” she said, “You just had no reason to your knowledge to hurry, or to come at all. While these children waited for you.”

The children, here was a conversation that needed having. He wanted to take them with him more than anything, but he knew Granny might put up a fight giving the last of her family up to a stranger she hated.

“The kids, she said she gave them to my keeping,” Sanji began, and a challenging look appeared in Granny’s eye. “Look I know I’ve done nothing to deserve it, and you have no reason to trust me-“

“Take them.”

“What?” The challenging look disappeared. She had been about to challenge him if he’d tried to pass off _not_ taking them.

“I hate your guts, I hate everything about you, but I can’t let them be like Chloe, or Clara. My own husband died two weeks after our daughter born. Two generations raised fatherless, don’t do it to them too.” Her eyes started watering as she looked away.

“I’m a great-grandmother. I've outlived my daughter and my granddaughter now. It’s not my place to raise them now, it’s the place of the parents, and that’s you now. So I’m telling you to take them, though truly I might rather die than part with the last two treasures of my life.” The tears started falling, and Sanji watched, shell shocked, “But you take them and you love them like Clara did, and like they deserve.”

Sanji had been expecting a fight, one he was desperate to win. He barely knew these two, but what he did know was that he wanted them beyond anything he had wanted in his life, besides the way he had felt about a green swordsman years ago.

“I’ll do my best,” he said, sincerely, “I’ll try my absolute best for you, for them and for her. But,” he decided he ought to be honest, “It might not be the safest life for them, Rulie’s already been kidnapped and that was before I even knew about him.”

“Where else is safer than with the crew of the pirate king?” Clementine said, “You’ve said yourself, staying here we can’t properly protect them.”

Interrupting them, the door opened and a teary-eyed Jacob ran in. “Is it true?” He stared at the two in front of him, the infamous Blackleg Sanji and the iron-willed Clementine Lavender, him with a soft look, and her crying, a feat that hadn’t occurred on this island since two weeks after her daughter was born.

“Yes, Jacob.”

“What’s going to happen to Sapphy and Rulie?”

“They’re going with their father. She requested it, and he agrees it’s for the best.”

“Why can’t they stay here?” Jacob argued, eyes bright, “We all love them! You love them, Granny!”

“I’m old, child,” she snapped, “I’m their great-grandmother. What children are raised by their great-grandmother while their father is willing to take them?”

Two faces had appeared in the hallway. “Are we actually going with Papa?”

Sanji turned to look at the twins, his twins, and said, “Yes, that’s what I’d like, and your mother and Granny, if you’d like it too.”

“You’ll like the ship, Sapphy, it’s really big. There’s a library.” But Sapphire said nothing, and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

“I want mama to come back and to stay here with her.”

“Oh, my darling,” Granny sighed, going over to her, “Your mother asked you to be good for your father. Your place is with him now, and with your brother.”

Jacob was staring accusingly at Sanji. “You never cared about them til just now, and now you’re gonna waltz away with them though you’re no better than a stranger.”

“There was no way I could’ve known they existed,” Sanji argued, but his tone was limp, “If I had I would’ve stopped pirating and stayed here!”

“Yeah right, you’re nakama of the pirate king, you can’t just leave his crew.”

“You don’t know _anything_ about me.”

“Boys,” Clementine snapped from where she was kneeling in front of the children, “Stop. Sanji, hadn’t you better go discuss arrangements with your captain.” After a moment’s thought she added, “And your husband.”

He nodded, glared at Jacob, smiled weakly at Cerulean and withered a little under Sapphire’s obstinate glare. Then he made his way out of the house and down the path to the market.

On the way, someone called to him. “Sanji!” And his husband was running towards him. “What’s happened?”

He felt a moment of nostalgia. Seeing Zoro again after feeling like being in an entirely different world. The first time it had happened was when he stood next to Zoro waving goodbye to Clara, eight years ago. “She’s dead, and asked me to take the children,” Sanji told him. “I need to go ask Luffy.”

Zoro nodded cautiously, “Are you alright?”

“I guess I’m better than those two,” Sanji’s gaze was lost though, somewhere else, “Are- you alright with this? With me having kids and them living with us?”

“Sanji, you just watched a woman die and agreed to adopt her children, _are_ you alright?”

Zoro was looking at him seriously, obviously concerned. “I’m, yeah, fine.”

“Really?”

And Sanji considered lying a second time, before his face started to crumple and he shook his head. And Zoro reached forward and took him into his arms. “Whatever happens, I’m yours, Sanji,” he promised, “Me and the crew, we’ll always be there for you. And the kids. Whatever you need.” So Sanji simply pressed his face into the familiar shoulder and closed his eyes.

Zoro was right, of course. Usopp was great with kids, he reminded them, and began a tale of when he had saved six hundred orphans from a burning building and they had sworn allegiance to him in adoration. Luffy thought it was obvious that they’d take the kids. “Will they call me Uncle Luffy? I always wanted to be a cool uncle.” Nami said as long as they behaved they were welcome. Franky thought children were hilarious, and Chopper was delighted at the idea of no longer being the youngest in the crew.

Meanwhile Robin subtly murmured to Sanji that she would collect some books on parenting for him. He thanked her graciously, because honestly, he had no idea what to do with two seven-year-olds. Jinbei had reminded him that he’d done well enough for the five days Cerulean had travelled with them, but Cerulean was very laid back and friendly, while Sapphire appeared to be more closed in.

Arrangements were swiftly being made. They would hold the funeral in two days, and the day after that the pirates would embark, bringing the two children with them.

Cerulean dragged his sister onto the ship, and got Zoro to show them everything while their father was at the sheriff’s office discussing grown-up things. “You two’ll have to share a room,” Zoro told them, “Franky only built ten bedrooms and a spare.”

Sapphire didn’t say much, looking at everything blankly and gripping her mother’s scarf. When Cerulean bounded up deck upon hearing his father’s call, Zoro was left alone with the girl. Gently, he approached her.

“I know it must be hard, but this will be your home, so you should try to like it,” he told her. She stared at him with Sanji’s clear blue eyes and said nothing. “It must be really terrible, for your mama to die and then be dragged off on a strange boat with strangers, right?” Her eyes started watering. “But we can try to make this as nice for you as possible. Is there anything at all you want, for this to be any easier?”

She continued looking at him, her bottom lip wobbling. She reached forward and took his hand, and hid her face in her mother’s scarf. “Okay,” Zoro touched her shoulder, “That’s good enough for now.”

The two sat in the music room, not saying anything, until they heard footsteps coming near, and so Sapphire let go of his hand and trotted to greet her brother and father. “I want to have my same bedsheets. And the bed by the window,” she told them. Sanji looked a little shocked at being addressed, but quickly said,

“Of course! Absolutely, anything you want,” and stared at Zoro in wonder, who smiled at him.

Truly, Sapphire wasn’t sure what to make of her father. He seemed nice enough, and upset when mama died, and terrified of Granny but the two were being more civil now. Cerulean adored him and clamoured for his attention when it was slightly diverted. All her life she had wanted to meet him, but now she wanted nothing more than to go back to the times when it was just her, Rulie and mama, and father was a man she was told about. But here he was, real and ready to be a father for her. She was shy by nature. The green haired man was nice, she decided, I like him. If he’s going to be my other father that’s fine. But she felt shy around her biological father, and didn’t know what to say to him. He seemed to have a similar problem with her, while he was fine carrying Cerulean round on his shoulders and teaching him to sauté mushrooms.

Granny decided it was high time the two bonded, seeing as they had such a short time before they would be living together, sent Cerulean out (who willingly ran off with that silly Pirate King) leaving Sanji and his daughter in the kitchen.

She was drawing in her notebook, little finches. One smiley finch, two smaller finches, an old finch and a larger finch that was flying to land on their branch after having been away for a long time. She scribbled it out and ripped the page out of the book.

“Is the waterfall still here?” Sanji suddenly wondered aloud. That pretty waterfall that had started everything.

“Yes,” Sapphire said shortly, and remembered what mama had said. _Be good for your father_. “I know the way. I can show you it if you wanted.”

As a seven-year-old, she couldn’t quite place the expression on his face, but an older person would see it as touched, hopeful and surprised. “I’d love that.” So she stood up, notebook under her arm, and waited at the door from him to stand up, but he stayed sitting. “Papa,” she frowned, “Come on.”

It was the first time she had called him that, but Sanji said nothing and followed her orders. He could remember this path like it was yesterday. Through the garden and down the path into the woods. Through the woods and into the clearing, follow the stream and the sound of crashing water, and there it was. He didn’t say anything as he followed her down the serene pathway. The woods still magical and green, light filtering through, birds tweeting somehow far away and also right by you.

There was a sort of calm agreement between them that he didn’t want to disturb. Nostalgia crept up this throat and clouded his vision as he heard the water, and his gulped upon seeing the falls again, so large and beautiful. The patch where he and Clara had sat was overgrown with shrubs now, but other areas had been cleared. “Did your mother tell you about taking me here?” he finally spoke.

“Every time we came to see it,” Sapphire said. “You were a flirtatious cook who looked at her like she was the most special somebody in the world, so to be allowed to get you alone mama told granny you were a tourist asking about the waterfall. Then you sat by it for a long time and then had dinner together.”

“Yeah,” Sanji nodded, “That’s the one.”

“Can I hear it from your perspective?” she asked him, settling on some mossy ground. He joined her.

“Of course.”

So, Sapphire was given the rendition where a stupid, young and flirtatious cook had seen the most beautiful angel in the world selling croissants, and decided to talk to her. Then she had asked him to come see a waterfall with him, and he had been the luckiest man in the world. He had to beg his friend Usopp to finish the shopping so that he could agree, and had been pleased beyond all words at the chance for having dinner with her, so he made his friends cook for themselves. (Robin and Franky had tried their best and come up with something apparently so traumatising the rest of the crew refused to speak of it. Luffy had eaten every scrap). Then the next morning, after making her breakfast and writing her a note on the back of his shopping list, they had walked around town until a furious navigator dragged him by his ear back to the ship. She had stood on the dock waving goodbye until he couldn’t see her anymore, and then from that day on he thought about her every time he saw a waterfall, and wondered how she was.

She listened aptly, “So you did think of her?”

“Of course, I remember every angel I meet,” Sanji said.

“What makes someone an angel?”

“The look in their eyes,” Sanji said, “You definitely have it.”

She flushed happily, “I’m an angel?”

“Will you remember me?”

“I’m coming to live with you, so I’ll have to,” she said, starting to feel deeply pleased. “But I’ll remember you even if we have to leave each other one day.”

Her papa beamed at her. “That’s all I want, little angel.”

* * *

 

The sun was still out the next day, at Clara’s funeral. The church was filled to the brim and several more people were sat outside. Sanji thought it might be more fitting for it to be behind clouds, but maybe, he thought to himself, it’s Clara smiling at us. He was sat sandwiched between his two children, Jacob on the other side of Cerulean and Clementine on the other side of Sapphire. Sapphire started sucking her thumb hard as the coffin was brought in, and reached for Granny’s hand, while Cerulean grabbed Sanji’s suit jacket. He had gone back to his ship for his best suit. The rest of the Straw-hats were there too, sitting in the bench behind.

When the service was over, and half the church sniffling, Sanji paused to stand by Zoro a moment and squeeze his hand for strength, before they want out to the church yard for the burial. Here did Cerulean start crying as he threw his bit of dirt onto the coffin, and sniffled into Sanji’s chest when he was picked up. Sapphire held onto her Granny’s hand, but when Granny was busy throwing her dirt and starting to sob quietly, she went and took Sanji’s instead.

There was something nice about it, to anyone watching, the long absent father returned and his children holding onto him so naturally as they mourned poor Clara Lavender. Everyone started leaving the yard, as the family stayed where they were longer, and the Straw-hats stayed in the shade of the church’s entry way.

Cerulean was lowered to the floor and he sat to watch the rest of the dirt being shovelled into the grave. At this moment Zoro went forward to wrap an arm around Sanji’s waist and whisper something affectionate and strengthening into his ear.

“Come on children,” Clementine finally said, “Let’s go back to your house.”

They had been staying at Granny’s for the past few nights, though Sanji came down to eat with and often make meals for them. The house felt quiet and shadowy without Clara’s presence. The shopping list was still on the fridge door, but Sapphire took it down now and put it into the suitcase that was carrying all her belongings.

All ten straw-hats were present as Sanji started moving about in the kitchen preparing lunch, distracting himself, as Sapphire and Cerulean sat on the couch talking to the ever tactical Usopp. He was distracting them with the actually true time he had sniped twenty marines from far away on top of a tower to save Robin’s life just before the entire island was destroyed by cannon fire and the tower he was standing on split in half with him still on it. He had said once he would return to Kaya with true stories so fantastical she would think them greater lies than the ones he had told before, and he had made good on that promise.

Zoro was stood in the kitchen muttering quiet things to Sanji who was continuing to swiftly work his way through an on the fly meal for thirteen. It was served presently, and then Granny moved into the children’s bedroom to finish packing for them. They would be leaving early tomorrow morning. The straw-hats got to work on carrying boxes full of their belongings to the ship. They had spent two hours the day before sorting pictures between ones Granny would keep and ones the twins would keep, so that they had equal reminders of mama and of themselves through their childhood.

Sapphire’s bedclothes had been cleaned and her bed aboard the ship made for her as requested. Her special lamp, all her drawings and books as well as mama’s special baking tools had been put into her boxes. Cerulean’s toys and hat collection and his favourite spoons from the cupboard were in his, and he’d grabbed the newspaper clipping from the fridge. The island wasn’t sure what they’d do with the empty cottage, and at present no one had the heart to buy it.

His kissed both his children goodnight before heading to ship where he’d sleep, before waking the next morning to collect them and take them away with him. Back on board he ate dinner with the crew and fell asleep in Zoro’s arms like it was any other night, though in his heart he knew things were about to be very different.

For instance, unlike the last time the Straw-hats had departed from this island, when only Clara had waved them goodbye, this time the entire village was there. Usopp threw the twins’ suitcases up to Franky who caught them and placed them on deck. Granny had been clutching the children for five minutes, as though regretting at the last moment agreeing to let them go.

Cerulean got free and walked over to Sanji, pausing to wave goodbye before letting himself be tossed like the suitcases on board. He was placed upright by Franky on the deck and ran to the side of the ship to watch everyone goodbye. Sapphire took longer to unwind herself from Granny’s grip, and walked slower to Sanji, who picked her up and put her far more gently down onto the deck. Then he jumped down again to see Clementine.

“You treat them right, okay,” she warned, but with eyes heartbroken, “They deserve the world and you’ll give it them.”

“They’ll want for nothing,” he said, “She won’t regret giving them to me.”

“Good,” Clementine went back to her snappish mode, “Because I’ll hunt you down this time. You can’t run away again.”

He smiled, “I wouldn’t dream of it,” and then stepped back and got on board his ship.

“GOODBYE EVERYONE!” Cerulean yelled, “I’LL COME VISIT! I WON’T BE LIKE PAPA OR GRANDPA!”

_Savage_ Sanji thought.

Sapphire starting waving too, face becoming upset as the ship started to move away, and began waving harder. “Goodbye, Granny! I’ll miss you! I’LL MISS YOU!”

“You too, darling, you too!” Granny raised her voice as her great-grandchildren were taken away from her for the first time, to places too far away to dream of. Jacob was sobbing as he waved, the poor thing losing the make shift family he had gained eight years ago.

Islanders got bored of watching and filtered away, chatting satisfied about the end of this great tale. Except for the children, and for Sanji and Zoro, it was the beginning of one.

Jacob turned to leave.

Clementine was left alone, watching the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been receiving such nice comments, thank you so much! 24k in and the back story is over and it's finally time for dads Zosan. Some of you have noticed I'm a bit of a sucker for detail and kind of let this run away from me.
> 
> Sorry for brutally killing off Clara. In my original scraps for this story she was alive and more like Clementine in personality, and also Sapphire didn't exist but I decided to make fatherhood a little trickier for Sanji and pop her in, also I thought it would make the random statement of "two kids named Sapphire and Cerulean" neater if I made Sapphire real like Cerulean. Her name was originally Sienna before my sister pointed out that was a shade of brown. I might go into further detail about how this story was formulated in later end notes because I'm a rambler. Essentially I get bored when jogging in the mornings and my imagination goes wild.
> 
> Am busy all day tomorrow and Saturday so updates possibly not until Sunday evening British time or Monday.


	6. Stormy times

The party following the claiming of the One Piece was unlike anything the world had ever seen. Straw-hat Luffy had hardly sat down, dancing and laughing and eating the piles of celebration food Sanji made for him, working continuously in the kitchen in honour of his friend and captain achieving his dream. In the day following finding the treasure, they sailed away from Raftel again after their private celebrations to meet up with old friends and faces. The remainders of the Whitebeard Pirates appeared, the Heart Pirates joined up, the Bonney Pirates were there, the Foxy Pirates even crawled out of whatever hole they’d been in to see if the tales were true, and there was a new Pirate King. Every crew in the world wanted to meet the man that hard surpassed all of them at the age of twenty-five.

Most importantly to Luffy was when the Red Hair Pirates arrived, with a teary Shanks, and then Luffy had burst into tears too and they had sobbed for ten minutes before calming down, sitting down and talking together non-stop for five hours.

They had been moving from island to island, finding more party goers and more alcohol and food, and more room for dancing and singing. Zoro had been presented with as much sake as he could drink and was making good work of it while Brook hadn’t stopped singing for coming onto nineteen hours, starting to concern people but showing no signs of stopping. Usopp was telling tales enthusiastically to his father, Yasopp, who looked like he might cry from pride of what his son had achieved. Usopp’s stories were the most fantastical he had told anyone, and not a single word was untruthful.

Finishing another bottle (he had lost count now) Zoro caught sight of his lover, who was looking beautiful in the firelight dancing with some random lady, taking a break from cooking to celebrate himself. Deciding it was a waste for Sanji’s attention to be on anybody but himself, Zoro abandoned his drinks and strolled over making grabby hands. Despite his inhuman alcohol tolerance, he had consumed enough to warrant slight tipsiness, which explained his otherwise stupid behaviour.

Sanji must have been tipsy too, for seeing him let go of the woman and allowed himself to be grabbed hold of.

“Do you come here often?” Zoro asked, taking Sanji’s waist and spinning him around. Laughing angelically with his hair fanning up, Sanji looked more beautiful than ever before and Zoro felt himself falling in love again. What was this celestial being doing letting a man like Zoro have him? It was rare to see the blonde so loosened up, so completely careless after the days of mindless frolicking, no worries or second thoughts (a million miles away two children and a mother scoured a newspaper). Sanji was too far away, Zoro decided, and pulled him close again. Sanji reciprocated with a tight grip, for despite any thoughts Zoro had, he loved this shitty swordsman more than he felt he could love anything else in the world, and today, a little drunk and a lot happy, he wanted to be as close to him as possible.

Now held tightly together they started swaying at a pace totally different to the upbeat music, but were too caught in their own world to hear anything than the other’s heartbeat. “I’m in love with you, did you know?”

“I did know!” Sanji exclaimed cheerfully, “You told me a few years ago after you thought a dragon had eaten me. Did you know I’m in love with you too?”

“I did!” Zoro lifted him into his arms and spun him in the air, “You told me after I thought a dragon had eaten you!”

An interesting day that had been for everyone, but too far in the past for either to linger on it, only taking from the experience the words they had exchanged after Sanji had Diable Jambe’d the thing’s throat and been spat out.

“Jeeeeeesus,” Sanji elongated the word, “That’s fucking ages now. Like, five?”

“Ha, you’ve been in love with me for five years,” Zoro said, not sure why his drunken mind had decided this was something to mock, because the fact had been one of the main sources of happiness in his life ever since. “Long term relationship loser.”

“Who else is in a long-term relationship here?” Sanji pulled Zoro’s earing just hard enough to make him wrinkle his brow, “Like, in one _with_ me? Do you wanna break up if it’s so lame?”

“Nah, I’ll keep you forever,” Zoro said decidedly, “You’re a good pastime.”

“Wow, I’m swooning,” Sanji pulled the earing hard enough to make Zoro wince, “My dear love of five years who I’ve known for eight, you are indeed a good pastime, so I’ll keep you for that reason.”

“And because you’re cute,” Zoro said. Sanji rolled his eyes. “And because I love you more than anything and would rather let myself be stabbed through the chest than be parted from you.”

Sanji’s heart felt rather like it was failing him at that moment, and he could do little more than stare at the man. The culmination of the next course events would not have happened had the world not exactly aligned and everything come together perfectly, a perfect storm. Sanji was now in a bit of a love haze and the adoring look he was giving Zoro was sending the swordsman into his own love haze. They were also a week in to the biggest party of the world, and both a little tipsy.

And then Franky ran up to them laughing. “Hey guys, funniest shit just happened, turns out there’s this chapel on this island where all you need to say is “I do” and you get legally married! These two smashed pirates just want ahead and got married! They’re gonna be superrrr mad tomorrow!”

As he was laughing, Zoro caught Sanji’s eye. He wasted no time and said, “Wanna marry me?”

“The fuck?”

“Wanna marry me, right now?” There was no hesitation in his eye, he looked entirely serious as he looked at his cook and said the words.

Caught in a love haze, a little drunk, and exhilarated by the party, Sanji said, “Yeah.”

Franky froze, and then boomed loudly, “SUPERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! I’ll get everyone!” He ran off shrieking for his nakama, and the eight of them stood sobbing at the chapel as the Zoro and Sanji married. Only they could have a proposal consisting of the words “Wanna marry me?” and “The fuck?” and still make it sound the most romantic story of all time.

The next morning, the crew woke up piled on top of each other, and the newlyweds stared at each other for a full minute in silence until Sanji said, “I guess we’d better buy some rings.”

* * *

 

A few years later, Zoro woke up almost painfully comfortable with his nose pressed into Sanji’s back and his arms wrapped his waist. Their bodies were pressed close and unclothed together, and he could smell Sanji’s shampoo and feel his chest move with breathing under his hands. This was a place he had been more times than he could count, wrapped around his husband in the early morning with no distractions.

It was times like this that he adored, because despite their years together Sanji really wasn’t one for PDA and often still spoke to him as though they were nineteen and argued more than they breathed in each other’s presence. But these days what Zoro got in between that was loving looks, fond laughs and a ring on Sanji’s finger that meant a promise of forever.

It was rare, actually, to wake up before Sanji, who usually was up an hour before him and left him without waking him up. But for whatever reason Zoro had roused earlier than usual and decided to use this to his advantage. He slid his hand across Sanji’s abdomen, feeling the rises and dips of his muscles and his smooth skin. He moved his mouth gently to press it to the joint between Sanji’s neck and shoulder, and felt him shift.

“Zoroooo,” he mumbled, “Shoo.”

“Why?” he bit down lightly.

“It’s early,” Sanji said happily, snuggling further into Zoro’s grasp and tilting his head to give him further access to his neck, “Get off.” Zoro started sucking on the bit of soft skin, earning himself a quiet groan. Slowly, he started moving his hand south to-

“PAPA! WAKE UPPP! OTHER DAD! I’M BORED!”

And then they remembered the most recent turn of events, and the two children living aboard their ship. For the first time Zoro realised exactly what adopting them incurred: he didn’t get Sanji to himself anymore.

“Wait a minute, Rulie!” Sanji yelled, pulled away from Zoro sharply and putting his pyjama bottoms on, “And stop shouting you’ll wake people up!” The swordsman immediately missed his warm presence and slumped dejectedly into the sheets.

“Papa,” came a hissed whisper from the other side of the door, “I’m bored!”

Sanji opened the door and hissed back, “Play a board game.”

Cerulean had his eyes fixed on something now, distracted. “What happened to your neck, it looks all red.” Horrified, Sanji turned to glare at his husband, who shrugged unapologetically.

“Come on Rulie, I’ll make pancakes,” he hurried tried to distract him, “Where’s your sister?”

“Asleep,” Cerulean took his father’s hand as they made their way up to the galley, “I didn’t want to disturb her even though I was bored.” He smiled like a superhero.

 _Why is better to disturb us_ Zoro thought, wondering if the problem he was having warranted a cold shower, as it appeared Sanji wouldn’t be back any time soon to help with it. “Sorry, bro,” he said to his lap, and got up to make his way to the shower room.

* * *

 

Life with the twins on board turned out to be very different from life before. They’d had Cerulean on board for those five days already, and now they had little Sapphire too, who couldn’t be less similar to her brother. Cerulean chatted to the crew all through dinner, laughing with Usopp and accepting treats from Chopper on the low key. Sapphire stayed mostly quiet unless addressed. She liked to sit in her room reading, or looking out to sea with her sketch book. She seemed to like the company of Robin, who would sit with her quietly and read too.

Sapphire was more frowny and critical than Cerulean, but both had a tendency to be deadly honest to people to the extent that the nakama often felt personally attacked.

(“You don’t wear a lot, Nami,” Sapphire had noticed.

“So, if you can’t die you’ll outlive all of us,” Cerulean had assessed Brook’s situation direly).

She had been small since birth, and unfit for the usual rough and tumble of the Straw-hat Pirates, who scuffled for fun. Chopper followed her about a lot, worried about her health. She bruised easily and got colds at the slightest temperature drop, and he was anxious that someday something worse might develop. He slipped Sanji extra vitamins and antibiotics to mix into her food, and made sure to keep a close eye on her. Sapphire never noticed, and went about her normal business normally secluded, not fond of the fights that tended to break out on the ship.

Chopper was sat scribbling in his medical journal (he’d been studying hard since having two new patients, and young ones at that, and had been making up a file of their medical histories. “Have you had chicken pox?” he’d asked, anxious. They both had, thank God). Franky and Usopp were tinkering together, and Nami had gotten out the badminton net and racquets, ready to challenge Robin. They’d had a tournament going that went back to a few months after Robin joined the crew, and hundreds of games played by this point. Along the way they’d lost count of who was in the lead, but both maintained it was themself.

Luffy decided this was all too calm and friendly, so rocketed himself at the deck sending crewmates flying. Sanji, who had been serving the ladies lemonade, almost dropped his tray, so after setting it down flew at his captain in a rage for so almost staining Nami’s skirt. Usopp and Franky, also affected, quickly joined the row, and Chopper was never one to be left out so abandoned his medical notes to toss himself into the fray.

Cerulean was delighted at this turn of events, and decided he wanted to join in. However, the second he got within a metre of them Zoro had swooped in to grab him with a yelp, and Sanji in his panic at his son being so near to the rabble accidentally kicked Luffy off the side of the ship.

Chopper screamed in panic and jumped in after him, “DON’T WORRY LUFFY!”

Usopp screamed in outrage and jumped in after the both of them as Sanji started frantically prodding at the pouting Cerulean, who had been eager to fight. “That’s the pirate king! Seven-year-olds aren’t allowed to fight with twenty-seven-year-old pirate kings!”

“But Luffy’s made of rubber, he can’t get hurt by punches,” Cerulean said, who had quite a high opinion of himself and his skills.

“ _I was worried about you getting hurt, brat_.”

A soaked Luffy landed with a splat on the deck, and then Usopp climbed over the side with Chopper over his shoulder and dumped him next to him. He stomped on both their chests to pump out the water from their lungs and then stormed downstairs grumbling about problematic nakama and stupid devil’s fruit users.

Sapphire watched all this from the side of the ship, ignored. This crew was so loud. Sometimes she felt like she wanted to join in, but she wasn’t sure how. Nami and Robin were the only two other girls, and Robin was thirty-eight, and Nami twenty-eight. Robin was kind to her but she still felt intimidated by the cool-tempered archaeologist. She liked baking, but Papa had scolded Luffy so fiercely for messing it up when trying to make a sandwich that she didn’t feel like asking to use it. She knew it was his pride, and he had a strict schedule of cooking and cleaning it that she didn’t want to mess up. So she said nothing.

The next day Cerulean bounded into the kitchen and started making a sandwich, clattering about with ingredients he could find. Sapphire watched from the galley table, but said nothing. Sanji walked in, and she waited, but he simply tussled Rulie’s hair and said “Do you want the expensive mustard instead of the decoy stuff I leave for Luffy?”

So she got up and went and sat alone in her bedroom until she was called for dinner. She didn’t like this ship. She missed Mama and Granny, and Rulie liked playing with reindeer-doctor and rubber-captain more than he liked playing with her. She cried until her eyes burned and pretended she had stomach ache when Papa started fretting over her appearance.

“Angel, angel what’s wrong?” he had cooed, going over to her immediately.

It wasn’t all bad after that, because she got to sit on Papa’s lap for the rest of the evening and he stroked her hair until she fell asleep. She had caused Chopper some serious distress though, as he shrieked about how he was doing a terrible job as a paediatrician and what if she was dying from a mysterious illness? Nami started sighing about what a cute dad Sanji was as Cerulean tried to climb onto his lap too, eventually dissuaded by Franky showing him his inner mechanisms.

Worst of all for Sapphire was that life was so easy for Cerulean, who claimed most of Sanji’s attention for his own and leaving Sapphire with only a little for herself. She didn’t bother trying to take it and sat by herself, unsure how and not sure if Papa even wanted to pay it to her. It was only right that Papa liked him better than her anyway, Cerulean was fun while Sapphire wasn’t. She was too little for the games the crew liked to play, while he was robust and enthusiastic.

She didn’t realize that one other person than Chopper had been watching her carefully and worriedly, having had a soft spot for her since she had taken his hand for comfort and cried in front of him the day after her mother died. Zoro was one of the crew members she wasn’t particularly shy around. Often if she wanted something from someone else she would ask through him. One day when she wanted juice from the locked fridge she had gone and tugged on his hand to get it for her, and when she wanted Luffy to stop asking her to do cartwheels with him it was her stepfather who delivered the news to the rejected captain.

It wasn’t that Sapphire was particularly shy around Papa either, except that she also was. She had no problems climbing onto his lap, and was fine ordering him about like on the day she had taken him to see the waterfall. (“Papa you shouldn’t smoke, you’ll kill your lungs and then we’ll be orphans. Is that what you want?” Shook, he actually cut down). It was just that on the boat she suddenly felt out of place, and he often acted differently on board too to how he had acted on Periwinkle Island. He had been so kind then, but quite snappish here and strict about eating rules. He wasn’t Sanji the visiting Papa who cried as mama died, but Sanji the cook of the Pirate King whose job it was to ensure a crew of twelve didn’t starve.

But then she felt silly when he turned away from scolding a thieving captain and went back to being a rather doting father who worried when his son got too near to a fight and horrified at the sight of his daughter crying from a stomach ache. He went downstairs to tuck them into bed at night and read them whatever book they requested, or tell them a tale.

“How did other-dad or you propose?” Cerulean was in a romantic mood one night as they sat out on deck, but unfortunately for him it wasn’t a particularly romantic tale.

They’d half drunkenly compulsively made the deal, and then decided to live with it the next morning, because in the end they _were_ in love, and Zoro did say he wanted to be with Sanji forever, and Sanji could think of worse things than forever with the moss-head, so maybe marriage was a good thing. Franky made them the rings, crying the whole time.

Sanji exhaled, “Well, we were just kind of having a good time at the party, and then there was this chapel and we thought that since we loved each other we should get married.”

“But what did he say?”

“Wanna marry me.”

“What did you say?”

He’d said, _The fuck_? “I said yeah.” He _had_ said yeah, the second time Zoro asked a moment later after Sanji had collected his thoughts.

“What was your wedding like?”

Two minutes in a cramped chapel officiated by a small gremlin-like man surrounded by sobbing fully grown adults. “Magical,” he deadpanned.

Sapphire was sat listening too, noting the dishonesty in Papa’s voice but not feeling like speaking up. It was early evening, and Sanji had left his vegetables to simmer in the kitchen, and having nothing else to do for five minutes had gone to join the crew out on deck.

The sky was getting darker, and clouds gathering in the sky. It was humid and the ship was rocking harder than it usually did. Sapphire was wondering if they should be worried, but at that moment a large flock of gigantic seagulls flew past, crying out loudly and thankfully distracting Cerulean who had been about to ask more about the wedding Sanji was so reluctant to talk about. “Papa, Papa look!” he shouted, jumping to his feet.

“What are those?” Sapphire asked, but was cut over by her loud brother.

“Put me up on your shoulders I want to see!” Sanji stood and picked up the boy, placing him on his shoulders obediently and walking over to the side of the ship.

“HELLOOOOOOO BIRDIES!” Cerulean screamed, “You’re bigger than all the ones from my island!” The gulls ignored the boy and continued on their course.

Sapphire sat alone in the middle of the deck now. She had wanted to see them too. Suddenly, she felt herself lifted and then she was placed on somebody’s shoulders, and had a perfect view of the large birds flapping away. Looking down, she wasn’t surprised to see the hair of the man whose shoulders she was sitting on was the familiar mossy green of Zoro. “Do you like them, Sapphy?” he asked her.

“Yeah,” she breathed, feeling like crying suddenly, “I like them.” There was a lurch in the ship as they hit a wave, and Nami was standing frowning at the sky.

“I don’t like the look of those clouds, there’ll be a storm tonight,” she called. A heavy drop of rain fell and splattered. “We should go inside.”

“A storm, a storm!” Luffy cackled, as more droplets fell from the sky and started hitting him. “How fun!” Nami collected the papers she had been working on and disappeared down the stairs to go warn Usopp and Franky of the change in weather, who were working in their offices.

Sanji and Zoro took the twins inside, and the four were already damp in the short amount of time. It was fully dark now so they turned on all the lights inside and drew the curtains. The rain pattered loudly on them, and as the ship started rolling a little shiver of fear entered Sapphire’s heart. Papa went to the kitchen to continue dinner, and of course Cerulean scampered after him to help. He was given the job of making the side salad and started chopping lettuce enthusiastically. “Slower, Rulie, your knife skills aren’t precise enough yet to be going at that speed and still get good results.”

Sapphire didn’t say a word through dinner, as she willed for the rain to relent. The first crack of thunder came a moment after they had finished dinner, while both dads were busy washing the dishes. Robin suggested they all go down to the games room, as the rain wasn’t as loud and intruding down there.

With a devilish grin Nami pulled out the monopoly board, and waves of trauma flooded through the rest of the crew, who had suffered at her hands during this game countless times before. They would die before they would be called cowards though, and Usopp, Chopper, Franky and Luffy took up the challenge. Brook started playing fast dynamic music to add to the stressful ambience of the room, and Robin settled down to watch the impending demise of her nakama. Jinbei was outside, enjoying the rain.

Zoro and Sanji came in ten minutes later to find Usopp already sobbing softly, bankrupt. Cerulean was staring fascinated out the window.

**_CRACK_ **

More thunder, followed by a flash of lightning. “Cool!” he yelled. His sister shrunk into herself in the corner. Sanji frowned at her. “Is everything, alright, Sapphy?”

“Papa can I go out! Can I go watch!” Cerulean yelled over him.

“Just a moment, Rulie,” Sanji yelled back, “Saph-“

“ _PAPA_! I want to put on a rain coat and go out like the fish man!”

“I’m going to bed,” Sapphire said, scurrying out, even though it was thirty minutes before she liked going to bed, and the girl followed schedules as tightly as her father.

Sanji wondered if he should follow, but Cerulean was already dragging him away. “Let’s go watch the lightning with fish man!”

“Nami, please,” Luffy was begging meanwhile, “Have mercy just once! I’ve done so much for you!”

“Hmm, no,” Nami smiled, holding her hand out for the monopoly dollars she was owed. “Pay up, bitch.”

The rain was heavy and the ship was rolling dangerously, so Sanji kept hold of Cerulean’s hand tightly to ensure he didn’t go overboard as they watched the lightning. Jinbei watched the boy carefully too, ready to jump for him if he slipped like Sanji feared. “It’s so bright! It was never huge like this at home! Sapphy hated lightning but I like it.”

Indeed, Sapphy hated lightning, and she hid under her bedclothes shivering as she heard it and saw it no matter how tightly she squeezed her eyes shut. The sail would get hit and set on fire and then she would either burn to death or drown and it was _so loud_ and even if it didn’t come near her it was scary scary scary and mama wasn’t here to comfort her like before and she hated it and she hated the ship and-

The door opened, Zoro peeked in. “Are you alright?”

She was under her covers. He went over to her and pulled them back to see the tear stained face. “Oh, do you want me to get-“

“Can _you_ stay with me?”

“Me?” She nodded. “Okay.”

She shuffled over. Cautiously he got into the bed with her. A new strike and a new crack of thunder and her face was pressed into his chest as soon as this. “It’s alright, it’s just a storm,” he told her, “They go as quickly as they come.”

“I don’t like them,” her voice was muffled.

“No,” he agreed, pulling her onto his lap, “They’re not nice.” The girl felt so little, she was usually tiny anyway compared to him but she felt especially fragile curled up against his side like this.

Zoro was a tall and muscular man, but oddly comfortable, Sapphire was finding. He was comforting too, big and strong and ready to fight off any not-niceties that might come their way. She could hear behind the sound of the rain Cerulean’s voice crying out and Sanji laughing.

The voiced the thought that had been in the back of her mind for a while. “I think Papa likes Cerulean more than he likes me.”

“What?” Zoro felt oddly like he’d been punched, “That’s not true at all!”

“I’m small and Cerulean is strong and loud and fun so Papa plays with him,” Sapphire sniffled into his shoulder, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do on this ship like if I’m allowed to bake or not and only you and reindeer-doctor pay much attention to me.”

“Your Papa’s just being a rude bitch,” Zoro said and Sapphire showed her face to stare at him wide eyed at the language. “He adores you. Remember him fussing when your tummy hurt?”

Sapphire said nothing and hid her face again. “Anyway, I like you best,” he continued.

He could feel her facial muscles shift into a smile. The rain was quietening. “The storm’s leaving. Do you want me to stay still?”

She nodded, so he stayed. Ten minutes later Sanji and Rulie strolled in, Sanji armed with a towel and rubbing hard at his son’s hair to rid of the wetness that intruded through the raincoat. Cerulean seemed unbothered about the presence of Zoro and waved at him as he climbed into his own bed, but Sanji was staring at him in shock, still holding the towel in the place Rulie’s head had been.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Zoro whispered, shifting to try and untangle himself from the sleeping girl, but she gripped tighter. Zoro’s eyes turned desperate.

Sanji sniggered now, endeared to the core. “Sweet dreams,” he winked, closing the door and leaving his husband trapped. Now for a night of sleep with no fog horn snoring in his ear.

* * *

 

The next day it was mid-morning before Zoro’s next opportunity to confront Sanji. The twins were sat drawing together a large monster, inspired by the stories they were told about the monsters the Straw-hats had defeated. Robin bit her tongue from saying that the worst monsters she had encountered on the large ocean were three men currently on the ship, but two of those men were the children’s dads so refrained.

Zoro came up behind Sanji and poked him hard in the back. “You’re being a bad father.”

Annoyed, Sanji turned around and kicked the hand away, “What are you talking about, asshole?”

“Sapphire told me last night she thinks you like Cerulean more than her because you play more with him,” Zoro poked his chest, “Do something.”

Sanji looked horrified. “Oh _shit_. I’m being a damn shitty worse father! Worse than Zeff!” How could he be mistreating his poor daughter like this? He’d seen her sitting by herself and had wanted to do something before being- distracted by Cerulean. He promptly stormed over and swung the startled girl into his arms.

“Sapphire! My angel! My darlingest darling, come with me,” he threw her into the air and caught her, making her giggle, “We have much to do!” She looked delighted at the attention, and Cerulean started looking excited too, eager to join in.

“What are we doing?”

“Not you,” Sanji pressed his toe to Cerulean’s forehead, “This is a father-daughter morning.” Sapphire beamed.

Cerulean pouted, but Zoro swooped in before he could say anything else. “Rulie, want to see me a do a cool sword trick? I can separate the clouds with a cut from down here.” Easily distracted, Cerulean started nodding and scampered after him chattering about slicing clouds like pizza.

Sanji turned around and made his way to the galley, “Come along dearest, I’ve heard so much about your spectacular baking and seen nothing of it!” She started flushing happily. “You’ve been here for more than a week and haven’t touched the kitchen, and your brother and Granny told me you’re as good as your mama!”

“Well it was just that you yelled at Luffy for being in there,” she admitted shyly.

“Luffy,” Sanji said, “Is a greedy good for nothing Captain that would eat out the entire pantry if I didn’t defend it from him. All beautiful girls like yourself are welcome in the kitchen! It exists only to please women! Come in and kick me out if I’m in your way!”

It was the same over-dramatic charm he had used on Clara and it worked just as well on the now bright-eyed Sapphire. “Would you bake with me? I want cupcakes.”

“It’d be my honour,” he twirled her around to imaginary music, “I’d be delighted if you’d teach me some baking tricks too, though I can show you how to make a mean chocolate soufflé.”

She put her arms around his neck suddenly. “I love you.”

It was at this moment Sanji’s heart exploded and he died, but not wanting to leave his children orphans his soul returned to his body and he simply shed some stupid tears. “Really?”

She nodded. “I love you too, little angel,” he said, clasping her, “You make me so happy.”

Frowning, Sapphire poked a tear, “Then why are you crying, dummy?” _Savage_ , Sanji thought. Sapphire meanwhile was remembering something mama had told her.

“If I made you a cake with love you’d cheer up, right? Mama said you liked food made with love.”

In danger of full on sobbing Sanji nodded. “Yes, I do. You’d make my day.”

And his little daughter hummed and kissed his nose before dropping to the floor to grab the special baking tools she had taken from home.

“Good good. Come help me then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mistreated Sapphire a little here, sorry. Bit of Zosan flashback too because I'm a hoe for Zosan always
> 
> Comments make me super happy!


	7. Better spirits

With Sapphire in better spirits, the mood of the ship lifted too, apart from Luffy, who had been down the dumps lately. (No one was sure why the captain was suddenly as sad as a raincloud, when he was so usually fired up).

Sapphire was a very charming girl, just slightly shy with strangers. This might have come from the over-protectiveness she had had as a child, because due to being much smaller than Cerulean everyone worried over her. She didn’t put on weight and muscle like he did, and got colds so easily.

She was protected constantly back at Periwinkle, bundled up under a thousand layers when snow started to fall in the winter. Even then she always got sniffles, and then Granny would be even more insistent on layers. When the sniffles turned into a cold, mama tucked her up in bed and they read stories together. Rulie, who never seemed to get sick, would sit laughing cheerfully and play puzzle games with her, before the call of the outside got too much for him and we went to build a snowman with Jacob as Sapphire watched through the window.

Here on the ship it wasn’t much better, and Chopper started trying to insist she wore a scarf at all times.

“I’m responsible for your health, Sapphy,” he said, pushing it towards her, “Wear the scarf!”

“It’s a million degrees out,” she’d frowned “I’m going to get sunburn, not a cold.”

Chopper had yelped in realisation, “Oh NO, did I tell Rulie to put any sun cream on? Oh no, no, no he’s probably already got skin cancer! RULIE. RULIE ARE YOU COVERED UP?” The reindeer scampered out before Sapphire could tell him Papa had put some on the boy already that morning.

The crew had been outdoors a lot in the warmth, and the volleyball nets were back out. There could be some pretty devilish duos, too. Usopp and Luffy made a good team, with his aim and his reach. Sanji scorned the game, refusing to use his hands to hit anything, let alone a ball, and he was powerless in any game if either of his ladies was on the opposing side. Brook tried his best and made up for lack of skill with enthusiasm. Zoro and Nami played dirty when together, which usually ended in fights with the other side. Rule abiding Chopper and Usopp often got the brunt of Zoro and Nami’s vengeance.

Sapphire mostly stayed out if it, to Sanji’s happiness as he was worried about her getting bruised. He was quite fussy like that, but she preferred it to the alternative, which was an uninterested father like Jacob’s. Sanji was certainly interested, asking her to give him tips on how to bake whenever she got to doing it. She got the feeling Papa knew more about the technical baking than he let on, allowing her to tell him all about things he doubtless already knew as she made cakes.

“Ah, so with a Genoese sponge you need to whisk air bubbles in to make it so light,” he’d said, nodding seriously. If anyone other than Sapphire, who instinctively saw through tales, had been talking with him they’d have fallen for it, but she knew technically no one could beat Sanji at any sorts of cooking. She liked how he only put it on for her too, whenever Cerulean was cooking with Papa he’d be chided at every corner.

“Too much salt, Rulie.” “That’s way too hot, child.” “Mayonnaise wouldn’t be good with that, try a vinaigrette.” She didn’t need much instruction herself, though baking was largely quite straight forward if you had all the skills. Papa had been good on his promise to show her how to make a mean chocolate soufflé, a promise that had well benefitted the crew as well.

“Thish ig duh besht fing evur,” Luffy had garbled through his mouthfuls, grabbing Usopp’s while he was distracted. He swallowed upon a glare from Nami, “Do you have any other secret kids to bake for me?” The answer was no, the foot in his face suggested. His day went further downhill when Usopp shoved him for taking his soufflé.

The enjoyment Luffy had gotten from the soufflé was short lived, and he went back to the down spirits he’d been having lately. Everyone was a little worried about the rubber captain, so jovial most of the time.

They staged a secret meeting while he was distracted by a passing Sea King, and began punching it to the excited cheers of Cerulean. Sapphire stayed as far inside as she could get.

“Captain is a little down lately,” Robin said, “Do we know what could have caused it?”

“I shoved him yesterday for taking my soufflé,” Usopp said, “But he was upset before that. He didn’t even try and steal a crumb from lunch, and I looked away for a whole minute trying to entice him.”

“Please don’t use the words, ‘trying to entice him’ when referring to Luffy,” Nami said, “I don’t want that mental image.”

“That’s homophobic, and you say it with Zoro and Sanji right there.”

“Fuck off, I’m not gay,” Sanji snapped.

“You’re married to a man.”

The cook searched for a comeback but found none, “Okay, you got me there, but-,” he was cut over.

“Luffy! Not an energetic mess!” Franky returned them to the original topic of discussion, “Why!”

 _‘They get distracted easily’_ Sapphire thought, ‘ _It’s always Robin, Franky and Nami that need to keep the conversation going in the direction it needs to. Papa and Other-Dad always start to argue, Usopp likes to interject with stories, and Brook makes jokes about being dead. They’re silly.’_

The crew could not come to any sensible answer, and decided to adjourn the meeting.

They heard a scream, and then a yell from Luffy. “ _CERULEAN GOT EATEN OH MY GODDDDDD!!!!_ ”

 Faster than bullets, Zoro and Sanji had shot out of the galley. Luffy was promptly kicked into the ground by a furious Papa while Zoro unsheathed his swords and sliced the thing open, sensing where the boy was in the monster’s throat. He grabbed the bewildered looking Cerulean and deposited him on the deck, before whacking Luffy hard with the blunt edge of his katana. Chopper practically pounced on him, who seemed largely unharmed and more enthralled than petrified.

“ _WHAT WERE YOU TWO DOING?_ ” The almighty rage of Blackleg Sanji was being unleashed.

“I just wanted to get a better look, and then I fell and it opened its mouth,” Cerulean had the decency to look a little guilty. “It looked like Luffy knew what he was doing.”

“ _Sea King’s are not to be looked at closely._ They are to be looked at _from far away while an adult kills it._ Speaking of adults,” Sanji turned to his captain, “Anything to say for yourself?”

“I should’ve been keeping a better eye on Rulie,” Luffy did look guilty, and it was that and his sad, dejected look from the past few days that made Sanji merciful, letting them both go with only a relatively light kick. However, Luffy was released into the far more frightening wrath of his navigator, while Chopper was bandaging Cerulean just for the sake of it as the boy had no open wounds.

“Thank Zoro,” was the last comment Sanji made. Cerulean went and grabbed a hold of Zoro’s trousers, covering them in Sea King spittle. “Thanks, other-Dad.”

Not one for caring about the wellbeing of his clothing, Zoro patted his head friendlily and the whole situation was forgotten.

A little strange too, Sapphire thought. Her brother had literally been swallowed whole by a giant monster, but now everyone was getting over it as though nothing big had happened. She supposed strange things like this must happen out on the ocean all the time.

She asked Chopper about it as he passed her. “Yeah,” he said, “The first week I was in the crew Luffy got grabbed by a giant gull and carried away. I ran to tell Zoro, Sanji and Usopp but they weren’t bothered, and then Luffy punched the bird and we ate it for dinner that night.” Matter of fact stories like these were common aboard the ship. Her father (prone to mood swings, it was clear) was now humming happily to himself as he walked armed with meat cleavers to the corpse of the Sea King.

The man as a little scary sometimes, but she found she liked it.

* * *

 

Cerulean, having been thoroughly scrubbed with soap and all sorts of other things from Chopper (who was saying lots of digestive enzymes may have been in the saliva, and might be strong enough to still be working) was now in the kitchen with Sanji. Gristle was being expertly sliced away, and the good meat being put aside to be seasoned. At the same time, he was steaming vegetables and stewing some less edible parts of the beast for a sauce. Sanji cooking was like artwork, a perfectly mastered dance, like he became at one with his cooking.

“How did you learn to cook so good?” Cerulean asked him, extremely envious. Even at seven he had high hopes for his future culinary talents.

“Cook so well,” Sanji corrected his grammar, “My old man taught me all the basic stuff, and the rest came from my own passion,” Sanji said, multitasking cooking and talking with ease, “And lots of practice. I’ve been the sole chef for this crew for ten years, and was an assistant head chef at Baratie since I was ten before that.”

“You’ve been doing it for nineteen years then,” Cerulean’s maths skills were very prominent, “And I’ve only been at it for two.” He’d begun experimenting in the kitchen at five.

“Exactly, Rules,” Sanji patted his head and whipped out his sharp knife. Cerulean braced himself for something cool, because it was at this point the hands turned into pale blurs and in split seconds whole meals had been transformed. Enjoying having an audience Sanji slowed his movements a little to show off what he was doing so Cerulean could register it a bit better.

“Was this the kind of thing your dad taught you? Do you think cooking skills is in our genes?” Cerulean enthused. There was a pause as Sanji considered what he should say.

A smart kid, Cerulean quickly remembered. “Oh wait, it was your adoptive dad that taught you how to cook, right? Never mind.” Sanji nodded, saying nothing and trying to reduce the ugly feeling in his chest of being reminded _who_ he shared genes with.

Cerulean continued, “Can I meet Zeff?”

Meet Zeff? Sanji himself hadn’t met Zeff since… He had left Baratie. He’d posted an odd letter, but moving so frequently there was no point writing a return address on it. Strange after he had spent so many years with that old bastard before he had fired him and so Sanji joined Luffy’s crew. And after Zeff had saved his life on that rock, and from drowning, and had taken care of him and raised him for so long.

Struck with a sudden longing to see the old man again, and show him how much he had changed and learned, Sanji nodded with fervour, “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll ask Nami if we can go to the East Blue. He might try and kick you, though.”

“That’s fine, you kick me too,” Cerulean said cheerfully, “Can I stir something?”

“The broth, taste it too, tell me what you think,” Sanji instructed, wondering privately if it was right for fathers to kick their sons, and decided it was fine because both of his dads had done so and he had turned out alright, right? It wasn’t as if he caused any permanent damage, and he never kicked little Sapphy who bruised at a slight bump.

Carrying on as normal Cerulean reported back that the broth was a little bitter, so Sanji sprinkled a little of something into it and Rulie promptly noted it was now at perfection. “You’re a genius! Is Zeff as good as you?”

“I’m miles better than the old fart,” Sanji hmphed, “He was never even properly trained.”

“But he trained you, so you were trained by someone who had never been properly trained.”

“Okay, listen here, brat-,” and the two were soon squabbling, Cerulean holding his own and Sanji telling him off nonetheless.

* * *

 

They made heaps of dinner, Sanji privately hoping to cheer Luffy up with it. He wolfed down twice as much as his fair share as usual, but there was no eclectic grin and happy sigh. Worried, the cook wondered over and patted his shoulder gently.

Underneath his snappish tendencies and brutal kicks, he was a very kind person, a trait his sister believed saved their family from complete damnation. He didn’t like seeing his captain unhappy, so started slipping him sweets. Sure enough his eyes lit up delightedly, before simmering down again as he was reminded of whatever was causing his troubles.

He decided to properly confront him after dinner. “Luffy, you’ve been no help at all this week, do the dishes with me later.”

“But I always break them,” Luffy looked confused. It was true, and 99% of the time Luffy wasn’t let anywhere near the kitchen at all. Sanji became wary if he so much as started sitting on the bar stool.

“Then don’t break them this time,” was the short answer as Sanji filled Robin’s wine glass and Cerulean’s grape juice glass.

The crew filed out after dinner, Sapphire and Brook off to the music room because he had promised to teach her some piano, Franky and Nami to keep watch because the sun had set, and the rest off to various offices or the games room. Sanji and Luffy remained in the kitchen. Luffy picked up a plate and immediately broke it, but luckily it had all been a rouse so he was stopped before he could damage anything else.

Sanji slapped his hands away and put his hands on his hips.

“I’m sorryyyy Sanji, I did say,” Luffy began, but Sanji waved him off.

“That’s not why I asked you here.”

Luffy looked puzzled, and then frowned. “I’m flattered, but you should stay faithful to Zoro.”

Horror. “What the _fuck,_ NO-,”

“I mean you’re cute, sure, but I don’t really like blondes.”

The foot in his face shut him up. “Luffy. I wanted to ask you why you’ve been so upset lately.”

Looking relieved Luffy sighed, “OOH. That’s good, I didn’t want things to be awkward between us.” Then his face fell again. “I’ve just had my heart broken is all.”

“Eh?” Sanji hadn’t been expecting that. He wasn’t sure if Luffy even had the capacity for romantic attraction, or if his rubber heart was able to be broken. He usually bounced back after the slightest rejection. And who had broken his heart anyway? Who in the crew could Luffy be in love with? Chopper, Franky and Jinbei could be immediately excluded. He excluded Zoro too because he didn’t even want to deal with that.

Luffy was good friends with Usopp and the two always messed around together. Franky was a little old for him, as was Robin but who could resist her beauty? There was Nami also… They had known each other for the longest besides him and Zoro, and Sanji himself still felt his heart, which was entirely Zoro’s, beat for her on occasion.

He then realised that, knowing Luffy, it could be something entirely different that broke his heart. “What broke your heart, hon?”

Luffy sighed, eyes clouding over. “It happened a few days ago.”

* * *

 

Luffy was delighted at the new crew members. Two kids too, kids were great fun! He liked their curly eyebrows too, fancy like Sanji’s. _And_ the two were cooks, so that mean he got three times as much food now, right?

Cerulean was great fun, excitable and eager to wrestle. They had to do in secret, as Sanji was not so eager for them to wrestle. They played together a lot, and with Usopp and Chopper too, and Luffy was very satisfied with this. But Sapphire, the smaller girl, had been more resistant to having fun.

He decided he wanted to do cartwheels with her. He bounded over to the girl and made his request. “Sapphy, come do cartwheels with me?”

She frowned up at him. “No, thanks.”

She’s probably not in the mood, Luffy decided. That’s fine, he often didn’t feel like doing cartwheels too. He decided to ask again later.

Later, he came up to her and made the same request. Not looking up from her book, she said, “No, thank you, Captain.”

She’s busy, Luffy realised. When I’m busy eating or fighting I wouldn’t want to pause to do cartwheels. I keep asking at the wrong times… He started hatching a clever plan.

It was six a.m. and he knocked on the kids room door. There was no way she could be busy right now. Sapphire blearily opened it. “Luffy?”

“Cartwheels?”

She closed the door again. She’s tired, Luffy mentally slapped himself, of course. She must get it from Zoro, he’s useless when he’s tired too.

It was after breakfast. Sapphire had just finished, and quickly tipping the rest of his food into his mouth (and some of Zoro’s) Luffy raced after her. “Are you ready for cartwheels yet?”

“No,” she frowned. She’s just had breakfast, Luffy remembered. It must be uncomfortable for her to have the food tumbling about in her stomach. Wow, cartwheels really needed a specific time frame to be done, huh?

But try as he might, each time he asked she turned him down no matter what the scenario. An hour after breakfast? She was cloud watching now, no one wants to be distracted from cloud watching. Sat doing absolutely nothing? She must be having a really intense thought, I’ll let her get back to it.

And then, the heart break occurred.

Luffy saw Zoro approaching him. Ah good, he liked Zoro, maybe he wanted to fight. He smiled cheerfully as he approached, but nothing could ready him for what was about to be said.

“Sapphire wants you to stop asking her to do cartwheels with her. She doesn’t ever want to do any with you.”

He might as well as just shot him with a sea stone bullet. So, Sapphire hated him, that was it. What had he done? When had he insulted her?

Luffy had really wanted to be friends, especially as she was Sanji’s kid and that was super cool, _and_ she baked and if they became friends she’d make him loads of cakes. But she didn’t like him, it was evident.

* * *

 

“Your daughter hates me,” Luffy finished. “It’s sad, right?”

Sanji was staring at him blankly. “That’s why you’ve been moping about? Sapphire didn’t want to do cartwheels with you?”

“She dislikes me so much she made Zoro come tell me,” the captain sighed.

Oddly, Sanji felt sorry for his captain. Stupidity must be a heavy burden, he thought, patting Luffy’s shoulder and deciding to resolve this. “Have a drumstick and get out.”

At once Luffy beamed, “Do you mean it? I should get my heart broke more often!” He tested Sanji’s patience by taking two chicken drumsticks and running out cackling loudly. Exhaling deeply, Sanji walked to the open door and called out for Sapphire.

She was sitting drawing on deck, frowning slightly at her creation as she couldn’t seem to get it right, rubbing out and re drawing and rubbing out. “Saph!” She looked up, “Come in here a moment?”

She abandoned her drawing and walked into the galley. “What do you need?”

“You know how Luffy’s been a little down lately?” She hmm’d. “It’s because he thinks you hate him because you didn’t want to do cartwheels with him.”

The girl looked shocked, “I don’t hate captain, it’s just I don’t cartwheel!”

“And you got Zoro to tell him why?”

“Because he’s a little overbearing and I wasn’t sure how to approach him,” she looked embarrassed at her shyness for a second.

Her father nodded understandingly, “Why don’t you try and cheer him up.”

“Should I make him an apology cake, he likes eating,” she said, “I’ll help you clean the plates first, we heard a crash earlier so I thought you might fire Luffy.” Sanji was glad she wasn’t timid to enter the kitchen and make decisions anymore, and he’d never minded being under a girl’s command.

He grinned at her, “Also, if you’re having trouble with your drawing ask Usopp about it, he painted the flag.”

Outside the captain had been distracted by Zoro dragging him into a volleyball match, versus Robin and Franky. Those two were formidable, as they worked well together, Robin had extra hands and Franky was hard to get the ball past due to his size.

Meanwhile, Sapphire got to work making an apology cake. She iced it red, she was told was Luffy’s favourite colour, and piped, _Sorry, Luffy_ onto it. The game was over now, and Luffy had retired to the figurehead to mope some more. She passed Zoro entering the kitchen as she left it, and looking back saw him now entwined with Papa’s figure.

She came up behind the captain, and could tell he had sensed there. It was different approaching him now to other weeks, when she had felt a little afraid to confront him, but now felt no worry at all in doing it. “Luffy? Mr Pirate-King?”

“Hello, Sapphy,” he said, not turning around.

“I made you an apology cake for hurting your feelings. It’s not that I hate you, it’s just I’m not strong enough to do cartwheels because I’m too little, so it wouldn’t have been any fun.”

Luffy had spun round at the words “apology cake” and had already taken it from her hands and taken a bite. “OOH! That’s okay then,” he munched happily.

“So you understand?”

“No,” he said, licking a bit of icing off.

“What do you mean?” She was a little annoyed, he had _just_ confirmed that he did get where she was coming from.

“I don’t understand what you mean when you say you can’t do cartwheels. Anyone can do a cartwheel, no one is too small.”

“But I’m quite fragile, mama told me, she said I shouldn’t tumble about,” Sapphire explained. She had long since accepted her inability for rough activity.

“As long as you do it right though,” Luffy said inspiringly, “I don’t think you’re as a fragile as everyone says. It’s not as if your bones are brittle. I’ll catch you if you stumble!”

She didn’t look certain.

“Please?”

* * *

 

Sanji had let Zoro have his way for five minutes before pushing him off. “No messing around in the kitchen, you know the rules.”

Zoro leant forwards, searching for his lips again, “I wasn’t trying to start anything. Kitchen kisses are fine, right?” Zoro knew he was irresistible if he played his cards right. He put his lips on Sanji’s neck, and grinned to feel him turn to give him better access.

And when Sanji turned, he saw out the window little Sapphire doing a cartwheel to the frenzied cry of the Pirate King, and smiled. In a good mood now, he didn’t stop Zoro as he slid his hand down his pants.

* * *

 

New confidence had struck Sapphire, as it occurred to her she may have been over-coddled all her life, and was in fact as sturdy as her brother, albeit easily bruised. Chopper was secretly thinking it was the good of the sea air, and rough and tumble she was exposed to despite being as best sheltered from it as possible. She pushed her brother around more now, deciding it was high time she started acting like the older sister she was.

She asked Zoro to teach her how to play volleyball, as she knew her father stayed away from it so there was no use asking him to coach her. Cerulean wasn’t one to be left out, and Luffy (back to his usual self) evened the numbers. Sanji left his kitchen to sit at the side and clap. Zoro looked touched to be asked, to be second after her real father in matters such as these. He was more than happy to coach the two.

“Okay, so you can have six on each team, but we like to play two v two to stop things getting too bloody,” Zoro explained, “You hit the ball like this.”

He gestured for Luffy to throw it, and purposefully aimed at Sanji as he hit it, an idea that was thrown back in his face. Literally, and hard.

Rubbing his cheek, he continued, “One player can’t hit the ball twice in a row, and there is a maximum of three hits per side. It’s scored by rally points, essentially, teams score points whenever the other team messes up, and a point is awarded on every serve. Got it?”

Cerulean was nodding eagerly while Sapphire took it all in. Rulie started hopping from foot to foot, eager to start hitting balls at people. The two turned out to quite athletic, and when Luffy started playing too hard feet appeared from nowhere to kick him. It also turned out Sapphire was wildly competitive once she got fired up.

“GOD _DAMMIT_ OTHER DAD!” She shrieked as Luffy and Cerulean high fived.

As they were playing (Zoro and Sapphire were actually near destroying the other two) Sanji approached his navigator, who was sat with Franky a little way away.

“Have we got anywhere to be specifically?” he asked her softly, knowing it might be a lot to ask for them to hurry back to the East Blue with her map making still in process.

“No, why?” she answered, pushing her sunglasses up to the top of her head. She had been reclining on a deckchair watching the mayhem of the game from far away.

“I thought the twins would like to meet Zeff, and I haven’t seen him in years either,” Sanji explained. “We said we’d go back and visit our home islands one by one after we reached Raftel, didn’t we?

“Hmm, I suppose so,” she considered, “I was planning on making the trip back to the East Blue a little later, but with the kiddos on board we can go earlier.” Her eyes started sparkling, “We can go see Vivi too!”

“And Water 7!" Franky added excitedly.

Over on the pitch, Zoro and Sapphire won another set, and he picked her up and swung around the happy squealing girl in victory.

Plans were made and agreed upon, they were going to head as quickly as possible to the East Blue before going back to continue their adventures on the Grand Line and New World and finish maps and complete other dreams. In relation to this, one thing had started nagging at the back of Zoro’s mind.

“What about the All Blue?” he muttered to Sanji, “Aren’t we sailing away from it now?”

“We have years to keep searching, and it’s just a visit,” Sanji said, “My dream is as in tact as yours.”

The crew had spent ten years getting to the place they were now. To Zoro, it felt suddenly like it was all going to waste as they turned around to head back in the direction they came. Sanji didn’t seem bothered by this fact, reaching to pinch Zoro’s cheek.

“We have years to keep searching, and it’s just a visit,” he said, “My dream is as in tact as yours. It won’t take us nearly as long to travel across the Grand Line now with our status.”

He referenced Zoro’s dream to become the best swordsman in the world, something at twenty-nine he was closer than never before to accomplishing. Resolution settled in Zoro’s gaze. He had been training for long enough, his skills were sharp enough and suddenly something in his heart told him now was the time.

“We’ll go back to the East Blue, see our friends and family, head back to the New World, and then,” his gaze settled, “I’ll challenge Mihawk one last time.”

Sanji stared at him, not alarmed or surprised. “Do you think you’re ready?”

“Yeah,” Zoro replied, “Especially now that I have something to win for.”

At the table, Cerulean and Sapphire were giggling together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One week exactly since I first published this, and 34,000 words just about! That's quite good going, I think. Will start work on the next chapter soon, actual things might start happening aside from minor conflicts
> 
> Kudos and comment if you liked it, I live for them xx


	8. Out and about

“SAAAAAAAANJI! I’M HUUUUUNGRY!” The cry of his captain wasn’t an unfamiliar one, and Sanji ignored it as easily as ever. These days, though, it was accompanied by that of a smaller boy.

“PAAAAPAAAAA! I’M HUNGRY TOOOOO!” And the captain and the cook’s son would charge into the kitchen only to be met by a swinging foot that would hit the slowest one to duck. Today it was Cerulean, and he pouted at the mistreatment. “Papaaa it’s been ages since breakfast!”

“It’s been three hours, I was just about to start making lunch,” Sanji said, talking around his cigarette as usual.

He had been enjoying some alone time, relaxed against the kitchen counter with only his thoughts. His moss-husband was doing his weight training and had been at it for a while, and Sanji had been contemplating being a dutiful husband and bringing him a drink. And stealing a smooch, of course.

But now he had to stay and defend his kitchen from invaders, so readied himself for the fight. The crew hadn’t seen land since Periwinkle Island, and supplies were just starting to fall low.  There was still plenty of rice, but no more meat or vegetables aside from those Sanji had put into the freezer. Uncertain of the next time land would be seen, Sanji was feeling especially protective of his food stores. His captain cared little for this fact, and kept jabbing elongated hands out to try and snag something. Sanji kicked it away each time and with a final swing of his foot Luffy was sent flying onto the deck.

Cerulean laughed, even though he had technically been on Luffy’s side, and Sanji passed him two granola bars he had made earlier that week.

The boy grinned, “Thanks, Papa!” and wrapped his arms around Sanji’s waist in a tight hug before running to share his loot with Luffy.

It was strange, this intense fondness Sanji felt for Cerulean and Sapphire, despite knowing them for so little time. Sapphire with her gentle forcefulness and sensitive and artistic flare, and Cerulean with his energy and brutal honesty. The honesty wasn’t _as_ appreciated, as Sanji disliked having truths about himself he preferred to ignore be pushed into his face. But around the boy he felt happy, as he did around Sapphire. Having the two around energised him, he suddenly felt able to feed the crew, protect the ship, be a husband, serve the ladies and then still lark around with Cerulean, admire Sapphire’s drawings, cook or bake with the both of them and then still have his alone time.

He’d essentially given up on the idea of a family, content for it to just to be him and Zoro and the crew, and sure it hadn’t been in the best of situations that he’d gained Sapphy and Rulie, but he wouldn’t give them up for anything.

He didn’t mind the incessant knocking at all hours of the morning, being crowded as he tried to cook, being tugged at to come play any time of day. He liked it when one of them would wander into the kitchen and tug at his hand for attention, or climb onto his lap when he was sitting down. He loved the protective feeling he got over them when they were napping on deck and smiled up at him. Yes, these were his children, and he loved them.

What he did mind was the constant danger they were in, aboard this ship.

He wasn’t even particularly referencing the primary sources of danger: Sea Kings. The crew had been a little stricter with rules since the whole Cerulean-got-eaten debacle, but honestly there wasn’t much you could do to prevent it.

“Scream really loudly if you get or see someone get eaten,” the twins were told, and they nodded seriously.

But there was another danger aboard this ship, and that was starvation. He was over-exaggerating a bit, but the ship went through weeks without fresh food, and you can’t last on fish and tinned tomatoes forever. The crew were strong, they had gone days without eating in the past, but Sanji would burn in hell before he let his children feel a hunger pang.

The crew seemed to notice this anxiety, and worked harder at fishing when they noticed Sanji frowning at the supply cupboard. Thus, he was more protective over his supplies, and punished thieving more severely (unless it was one of his ladies wanting a snack, of course).

Obviously he didn’t let onto the kids his worries.

Sapphire was coming leaps and bounds since overcoming her initial shyness. She had been a little uncertain of the skeleton Brook, but upon seeing his dejectedness (similar to Luffy’s) felt sympathetic at once and started talking to him.

“How many instruments can you play?” she asked him politely, trying not to stare or ask about his afro. The world was so strange outside of Periwinkle, talking skeletons and reindeers, and apparently Papa once fought a man who wore an armour of ramen.

Brook was delighted at the attention, and started listing all of them enthusiastically. “I prefer guitar, piano and violin most of all, I’ll compose you something!”

“Would you really?” Sapphire had never had something written for her before, “Could you teach me to play something, also?”

And so she had started having piano lessons with Brook in the music room, and having her father’s deft hands was soon proclaimed a prodigy by the skeleton. (He may have simply been very enthused at the idea of his first student, but his statement had been genuine nonetheless).

Cerulean’s primary interest remained cooking, but Sanji had to promise to give him lessons once they reached land and got more ingredients. In the meantime, the young boy observed the preparations of meals, unless he was fishing with Usopp and Luffy or attempting to lift weights with Zoro.

“You’ll strain yourself.”

“I-I’m fine-,”

“Cerulean you’ll pull a muscle.”

“No, I wo- OWWWWW. CHOPPERRRRR!”

He was also interested in the mechanisms of how Nami navigated, and what the dials meant. If she was in a patient mood and Sanji had given her a cold lemonade she would explain it to him, pleased when he told her how clever she was for being able to work it.

“Do you know when we’re reaching the next island?” he asked her eagerly, now under the impression Nami must be omniscient on such matters.

“Not when exactly, but I know which direction to go in,” she said, “When they start acting a little frenzied it means we’re getting closer.”

Cerulean was starting to get a little restless after more than a month aboard the ship, now used to all the antics that had used to so amuse him. Chopper changing form, the skeleton musician, getting eaten, Luffy almost drowning, this stuff was getting old. He started nagging his father, at his own risk he knew because an agitated Sanji had quite the kick.

“Papa, when we reach land can I go explore?”

“If it seems safe, and if you don’t go with Zoro,” Sanji hummed, mixing something in a bowl and tasting it.

“Because he always gets lost,” Cerulean remembered triumphantly. Sanji sniggered and nodded, grinning over at his husband who was also in the room.

A shoe was promptly thrown at him, but Sanji dodged it easily as breathing and laughed louder. “Bitter, darling?”

“I don’t get lost, forests move,” he grumbled from the back of the room, “Pass me back my shoe.”

“My kitchen my rules my shoe,” Sanji smiled. It was a bit of a devilish grin, Cerulean noticed, the kind he hoped would never be directed at him. It was wide, eyes open and unchallenging, but oh so fake. Zoro, angered and ready to fight, stood up.

He was disrupted by Sapphire prancing in waving a piece of paper at him. “Other-dad! Papa! Look what I drew, Brook said I should come show you!”

Anger flown away, Zoro bent to look at it, and saw it was of Brook, him sitting at the piano. He could tell why the skeleton had wanted it to be shown off, he must have been delighted to be the subject of a piece of art.

“I thought since he wrote me a song I’d draw him,” she explained, cheeks pink and going pinker when Sanji strolled over to look. He inspected it closely and beamed at her.

“Beautiful, dear! How did you learn to be such an artist? We’ll have it framed, if you can part from it!”

“Granny used to paint when she was younger, so she taught me,” Sapphire said happily, “Do you like it too, other-dad?”

‘Other-dad’ had been trying to sneak into the kitchen to get his shoe, and froze upon being addressed. Sanji arched an eyebrow at him, but he continued slowly into the room to grab his shoe. “It’s great.” He bent down to pick it up, keeping his eyes glued on Sanji’s figure. He slowly walked out of the kitchen. Sanji’s eyes didn’t leave his as Zoro moved slowly towards the door.

“Where are you going with my shoe?”

“Isn’t that one other-dad’s,” Sapphire said, a little confused by the tension.

“It is.” “No, it’s mine.” Challenging eyes met each other once more. Cerulean watched with unmasked delight.

Her thoughts, though, had drifted away now from the tension though as she considered the name they had given to Zoro. “Other-dad,” Cerulean had come up with it and introduced him as such, and unthinkingly at the time Sapphire had gone along with it. But Cerulean was a silly boy, she knew, he liked it when Sanji and Zoro fought and thought it was funny, she meanwhile thought it was better for married couples to talk it out. It was just like him to give him a funny name, but she agreed they needed something to differentiate the two.

Zoro being Sanji’s husband meant he was their dad, or stepdad at least, and he certainly acted like he was their dad most of the time. (When Cerulean had wanted to go diving in a patch of ocean where there was sea ice, she had heard Zoro mutter, “he’s _your_ son”).

He need a new name, she decided, but something to differentiate him from Papa. Sure, they could just drop the “other” and call him dad, but how would strangers know who was who? It could be confusing if they thought they just had one dad who they called both papa and dad.

“I don’t like the name other-dad,” she announced, as Sanji and Zoro were moving towards each other menacingly. They paused and looked back at her.

“What do you mean, hon?”

“It’s a silly name that Rulie chose,” she explained, “It could cause confusion. Could I call you green-dad?”

Silence, and then Sanji burst into laughter so passionate he doubled over and fell to the floor. A shadow had passed over Zoro’s face. Cerulean looked insulted, “It’s not silly.”

Sapphire pressed on. “This way people can easily tell who’s who!”

“I think it’s obvious by just looking that we’re not related,” Zoro was saying desperately, but not wanting to hurt her feelings.

“Captain gets mixed up all the time, he says I might inherit your sword-fighting genes,” Sapphire told him, “There are lots of silly people in the world.”

Her Papa seemed to have never known such mirth. He was curled up on the floor, face a mixture of delight and near-pain now.

“I,” Zoro sighed, “If that’s you want, Sapphy.”

“Yeah, Saph, please please call him green-Dad, it’s perfect,” Sanji giggled from the floor, “It makes him sound eco-friendly too!”

“I’ll kill you,” Zoro said.

“That’s domestic violence,” Sanji beamed.

“I want a divorce.”

“No, you don’t, think about the kids, green-dad.”

Zoro stared at him, furious. Sanji merely stood up, brushed off his trousers from being on the floor, kissed his cheek, wrapped an arm around his shoulders and whispered something into his ear. Disgustingly, in Rulie’s opinion, Zoro melted at once into Sanji’s embrace and accepted the soft kiss on his lips.

They were saved from further torture of having to witness their sappy parents by a screech from Luffy.

“LAND! LAND AHOOYYYYY!”

Cerulean burst out of the galley, half eager to see the new island, and half eager to get away from what was happening in the kitchen. Sapphire followed, though she wasn’t as bothered by the PDA and preferred it to the fighting.

Zoro had now slipped his arms around Sanji and was kissing along his jaw, deeming this a more acceptable way of passing time than looking at the new island.

“Whose shoe is it?”

“Your shoeee,” Sanji purred.

* * *

The cook had taken inventory the day before and had updated it after breakfast. They were down in almost everything, and seeing as the day was lovely and the island lively he decided to divide up the shopping so they could get it over with quickly.

It seemed to be quite a touristy island. It was far bigger than anywhere Sapphire and Cerulean had been, and they stared at it in wonder as they approached. A large town, with shops and bustling business and a harbour with twenty ships, not the small one that could barely support the Thousand Sunny when it had arrived. Nami steered away from the main entrance, heading to a secluded beach instead, in case of marines.

Each pirate was handed a list of what to get, and a warning of what would happen to them if they forgot anything. Luffy was on vegetable duty, lest he snack on anything on the way home.

Zoro and the kids were to go with Sanji, in case they got lost. Zoro became annoyed. “I don’t get lost.”

“Sure babe, in that case come with us anyway because we want your company,” Sanji couldn’t be bothered to fight. Sapphire and Cerulean’s bright smiles were more genuine than his words, so Zoro decided to go with the three. He could protect them from danger if it came to it.

Robin and Nami naturally hadn’t been given any list, only a happy: “my pleasure will derive from you two having a pleasant day!”

The crew jumped off the ship and onto the sand and made their way to the town, splitting up upon arriving. It was very warm, surprisingly so as about a week before they had passed icebergs and Cerulean had been eager to dive down to see how deep they went. (Franky took him in the submarine after Chopper started shrieking about hyperthermia).

The twins were eager to look around, as this was the largest island they had ever been to, and the busiest, and the furthest away from Periwinkle Island.

“Papa, Papa, can we go this way,” Cerulean started tugging on his hand, “I want to go see that building!”

“That’s a post office,” Sanji said, “We can go once the shopping’s done.”

“What about now!”

“Later,” Sanji told him, snapping his finger to attract the attention of Zoro who had been about to walk down a backstreet. “Sapphire, hold his hand.”

Zoro glared at his husband but didn’t make any move to dislodge his hand from where the smaller one was encasing it. They followed the busiest roads and found their way to the main road, which had all the shops they were looking for.

Cerulean was trying to run off in every direction, a snap from Sanji bringing him back, before he saw something else that interested him and tried to inspect that too.

“Sanji, maybe it would be faster to split up,” Zoro suggested, as Cerulean caught sight of a teacup pig and ran to get a good look. “Saph and I can take half the list.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t get lost,” Sapphire added seriously.

Sanji paused for a second, then said, “Can I have Sapphire?”

“No,” Zoro answered, ripping the list in half and pocketing it, “You and Rulie have fun.”

“Don’t get separated,” Sanji called after them, before turning to try and convince Rulie that they didn't need a pet pig on the ship.

Sapphire and Zoro disappeared into the crowds, Sapphire smiling as she directed him to where they needed to be. “The list says we need two sacks of flour, that’ll be over to the left.” Zoro turned right and she tugged him in the right direction. “No, green-dad.”

Disgruntled he muttered, “I was just testing you.”

The two started making good time, and Zoro tossed the sacks onto the cart they had hired. “We need yeast now. And sugar,” Sapphire said, reading the list aloud.

“He’s buying a lot more baking ingredients since you joined the crew,” Zoro noted, pleased at the happy look that appeared on her face.

“He’s very good to us,” Sapphire agreed. It was better than any scenario the realistic girl had imagined for him before they met Sanji. She worried he might be uncomfortable with them, or only taking them because mama wanted him to. Instead he was doting and affectionate, and tried to make them as happy as possible.

“Better to you than me,” Zoro complained, “I thought I’d start getting better fed when we started fu- dating. I never get a drop more sake then when we just friends.”

“It’s better than favouritism, I think,” Sapphire let go of his hand to pick up a jar of apricot jam. “It’s not on the list, but would Papa let me have this?”

“He’d let you buy a gilded elephant if you asked nicely,” Zoro said, tossing the jam onto the small cart. She laughed and checked the list.

“He wants more napkins, where could we get those?”

Zoro paused to think.

They were made of paper, but probably wouldn’t be found in a stationary shop. Then again, he might mean cloth handkerchiefs, like the fancy ones he made them use on their anniversaries. Anniversaries aren’t so bad, he thought to himself, I do get extra alcohol on those days.

Handkerchiefs are probably sold in convenience stalls, he decided. Where will those be? Probably this way, Zoro liked trusting his intuition when it came to directions.

It didn’t seem to work out this time as he found himself somehow in a deserted street with only a cat yowling away in it. He turned to ask Sapphire to navigate them back, but a hollow fear settled in his gut when he looked.

She was gone.

The girl had gotten lost, and after Sanji had told them to not get separated!

“Shit,” his eyes were wide, “Oh shit, he’s gonna kill me. He’ll kill me and toss my body into the ocean.”

* * *

 

Sapphire huffed, annoyed. Green-dad had disappeared and taken the cart with him. She had located the napkins, but now had no money to buy them with. She crossed her arms and looked around her. Well, even if Zoro didn’t come back she’d probably run into Papa or another crewmember, or be able to make her way back to the ship, so she wasn’t too anxious, only a little annoyed.

She knew Papa would be _very_ annoyed, so hoped for Zoro’s sake he made his way back before Papa did so that their marriage wasn’t broken up.

“Are you alright, little lady,” the man at the napkin stall asked her. The island was a safe one, but lone seven-year-old girls should be checked upon, was his mentality.

She had a frowny faced as she said, “Yes, but my green-dad has gotten lost and he has the money to pay for the napkins, so I have to wait here, and if Papa gets here first he’ll be mad that green-dad got lost.”

The man, who had seen quite a few things pass though this town, nodded. “Ah, that must be a trial.”

“It is. They do love each other but they like to fight too,” she sighed, “I was always taught married couples should talk out their issues.”

“Indeed they should,” he nodded, “Well, talking might not always work.” His tone had gone dejected, and Sapphire at once tuned into it.

“What do you mean?”

He wondered if he should spill all of his secrets to this stranger, but she had very trusting eyes and soft demeaner, and he found himself telling her all about his failing marriage with Bernadette, and how he just couldn’t see how it would work out. They fought over everything, and though he loved her he couldn’t see things being resolved, and them being happy again.

“Do you know the source of the issues?” Sapphire asked seriously, “If you get down to the root of the problem everything else might follow.”

He sighed, “I suppose it might have started about two years ago, when our son died.”

“Did you talk about your feelings around then?”

“No, we just shut them away.”

Sapphire nodded, considering the problem. “Maybe you should try talking then. She might think that you are unfeeling and shut away, and you think she’s unhappy and difficult. Most importantly, do you really love her and want to stay with her?”

He nodded.

“Papa says that’s what’s important. Even though he and green-dad fight he says that because after everything they still love each other, the fights don’t matter.” She added, “He also says green-dad is annoying and deserves to be kicked. Green-dad says Papa is irritating and deserves to be annoyed. Well anyway, they say they don’t want to break up.”

“SAPPHIRE!”

“Oh, there’s green-dad,” she said casually, “He’s turned up again. I hope things work out between you and Bernadette.” She yelled, “I FOUND THE NAPKINS, IDIOT-HEAD!”

A man with short green hair and a scar over one eye skidded to a halt next to the young girl. “Oh, I thought they would be the other way.” He picked her up, “Sorry for losing you, Saph, but you should be more careful.”

“You’re the one that got lost,” she deadpanned, pulling his ear, “I told you I had seen the stall already.”

“You should’ve said it louder,” he returned, and looked at the man, “Can we have some table napkins please?”

 _Green-dad_ , the man was thinking, _I see it_.

“And after that,” Zoro continued, starting to look a little anxious, “We can go get some ice cream. I hear they have this great flavour that makes you forget to tell your Papa about getting lost in an unfamiliar town.”

“I’ve heard it takes three scoops to work,” Sapphire smiled. A smile that looked like, once mature, might mirror Sanji’s devilish grin.

* * *

 

Finished with his shopping, Sanji decided to try and locate his husband and daughter. Cerulean had settled down a little, distracted by the task of finding the specific stalls they needed to get to. There was no doubt in Sanji’s mind that Zoro had gotten lost as some point, he just hoped Sapphire was able to get him back on track.

“Aww, Sapphy got ice cream,” Cerulean complained, seeing the girl and Zoro walking towards them, his sister indeed carrying a cone with an impressive three scoops on it. Sanji wondered how she had bargained her way into getting that.

“Get yourself one too,” Sanji handed him some money and Rulie sped immediately to the ice cream cart. He pinched Sapphire’s cheek in greeting, and then Zoro’s cheek too with a smirk. “Did you guys get everything?”

“Yep,” Sapphire said simply, face blank and she licked at her ice cream.

“Everything on the list,” Zoro agreed, face also blank.

 _Something’s up_ Sanji thought, but was distracted by Cerulean buying himself an ice cream so huge that Sanji’s money would definitely not cover it. “Jesus, Rulie, ever heard of _PACING YOURSELF?_ ”

As he stormed off, Zoro caught Sapphire’s eye and the two nodded to each other in silent agreement as they followed him.

* * *

 

“Time for looking around!” Cerulean was bouncing off the walls and Sanji finished checking items off his list as the crewmates arrived back with their produce. Luffy was looking so sorry for himself (he hadn't bought a single snack) that Sanji quickly cooked him a steak in thanks for getting all his things so quickly.

The man perked up, swallowed it whole and ran off with Usopp and Chopper to enjoy the town. (And find out if there was anything worth stealing).

“Post office, post office!” Cerulean grabbed Sanji’s hand, “I want to see it!”

The post office ended up being a little underwhelming for all the hype that Rulie gave it, but he bought stamps eagerly nonetheless and posted a letter for Granny.

Then it was Sapphire’s turn and she voted to go see the fountain in the middle of the square.

“I heard someone say it brings you luck if you throw a penny backwards into it,” she said, “We all need to throw a penny.”

So the four of them threw a penny each, Zoro slightly more reluctantly than the other two. He heard Sanji muttering (probably from habit) for luck with pretty ladies, and hit his shoulder. Sanji retaliated promptly with a sharp kick. Zoro reached for his swords.

Cerulean broke up the fight by shouting that he was hungry and wanted lunch.

“You should have said so back on the ship, I’d have made something,” Sanji told him, “and how are you hungry anyway after that massive ice cream? Aren’t you sick?”

“No! Can we get pizza?” Cerulean’s face had turned to the angelic one he used to get his way, and Sanji was powerless to it. Zoro had wanted sushi, but he too was affected by those soft hazel eyes and couldn't find it in himself to complain. Sanji commented only slightly negatively on the wine on the menu, and the poor seasoning on the garlic bread, but other than that said nothing else as his children devoured the food.

Being filled with pizza didn’t slow down the boy at all, who was eager to experience everything available to him. Zoro generally liked to nap after a meal, but even he was carried along in the stream of Rulie’s energy.

They found a sword shop and Zoro spent half an hour in there before he was dragged about by three curly bastards complaining that he was being boring. They found a playground in the more residential area of the town, and it was walking towards it after Cerulean and Sapphire had started running full speed that Sanji took hold of Zoro’s hand.

“They’re a busy bunch,” he mentioned, heart warming as Zoro squeezed his fingers.

“They’re good kids,” Zoro said, “I like them.”

“I like them less when they want huge ice creams for dessert after huge ice cream snacks,” Sanji mentioned, “But I love them. It’s weird thinking only a few months ago I didn’t know them.”

“Only a few months after meeting Luffy for the first time you flew to the sky, met angels, faced God and ended a 400-year war,” Zoro reminded him, grinning. “And obviously after only knowing me a few months you fell head over heels.”

“I’d have killed you for a toothpick,” Sanji said.

“And now?”

Sanji considered. “Two toothpicks.”

Zoro’s hand moved to tickle his side, knowing his husband’s weak spots better than anyone, and Sanji started shouting immediately and squirming away.

“Stop being gross and come push us!” Cerulean yelled from where he was sat on the swings next to his sister.

They complied, but only after Sanji stole a smooch.

The twins were knackered by the time they got back to the ship, and riding on Zoro and Sanji’s backs.

“Busy day,” Nami cooed, patting each child’s head.

“They wanted to cover every inch of the damn island,” Zoro told her, “What did you guys do?”

Brook had wandered into the forest and played guitar for some squirrels, Franky had bought some metal and took it back to the ship to tinker with. Luffy had started terrorizing locals with his infinite appetite, while Usopp and Chopper tried to slow him down. Chopper had picked up a band of followers, fascinated by the talking reindeer, until he got uncomfortable and asked Robin to distract them with a giant foot.

Sanji started cooking dinner, singing under his breath from the happiness of having a full stock of ingredients again. The twins sat blearily at the table, and once they were done eating were carried down to their rooms and helped to get changed and brush their teeth. Then they were out like lights.

* * *

 

The next day their energy was back in full swing, but having had enough of the town wanted to play on the beach. Luffy had decided to go visit the post office Cerulean was so enthusiastic about, and the rest of the crew besides the two dads had business still in town too.

The twins weren’t bothered, they were perfectly happy with just Zoro and Sanji’s presence again. So, armed with sun cream and beach towels the little family got off the boat and made their way to the little secluded beach.

The twins knew how to swim already due to coming from an island with its own beach, and were eager to paddle and get in the water.

Cerulean had taken Chopper’s warnings about sunburn a little too seriously and had lathered the stuff on himself so thickly that it wouldn’t rub in and he looked like someone had poured cream over him. Sanji set about fixing this mess as Zoro and Sapphire, sensibly covered, made their way to the ocean.

She splashed in and immediately dived underwater, as she loved the beach. She resurfaced and went closer the shore again so that she could wade and look for shells. Zoro accompanied her on her search, putting the ones she liked in his pockets.

They were distracted by Cerulean charging into the water and belly flopping, and Sanji following him more serenely. His son was however far more interested in play than gentle activities like searching for shells, and started splashing all of them with his feet.

A small tidal wave washed over him as Sanji retaliated, causing Sapphire to start laughing hysterically. Cerulean stood and spluttered, and dove at Sanji’s middle to get revenge. In a playful mood, Sanji pretended to be overpowered and fell to the sandy floor as his son batted at him. "No Rulie, you're too strong, stop!"

“Shall we save your father?” Zoro asked Sapphire, who beamed and let herself be placed on his broad shoulders. Inspired, Cerulean dragged Sanji up to standing and demanded to be put on _his_ shoulders.

“We have to knock the other team over!” he announced, eyes going devious. The competitive spark appeared in Sapphire’s eyes as she prepared for battle.

It soon turned into a blood bath, the dads up to their waists in water as they tried not to overbalance with two aggressive seven year olds trying to push each other over on their shoulders.

“Give in, you’re no much for us,” Zoro challenged, grinning as Sapphire got in a good jab and splash, causing her brother to gasp.

Deciding to make things interesting, Sanji promptly swiped his legs under Zoro causing him to fall, Sapphire and all, under water. Being a good father, he fished out his spluttering and rather angry daughter, but left his husband in peril. Getting to his feet, Zoro glared at him.

“You’ll pay for that!”

“I’m holding children, you can’t touch me,” Sanji snapped back. Not appreciating being used as human shields, Cerulean slid off his shoulders and Sapphire out of his arms. “Traitors!” he gasped in betrayal as Zoro dived at him.

The tussle was inevitable and rather violent, as the twins watched from a safe distance away. They couldn’t see much, only lots of splashing, pale legs and tan arms swinging everywhere and the occasional furious yelp.

“They’re cute together,” Cerulean sighed.

“But you think it’s gross when they hold hands and kiss,” Sapphire said, thinking her brother needed to get his priorities in order.

“It’s just their way of showing affection.” He caught sight of a little shell underwater. "Sapphy, I found you a cute one."

A little later, towelled down and with no sunburn, to Chopper’s relief, Robin asked them how their beach day was.

“It was fun,” Sapphire told her, “We swam and collected shells, and then we tried to push each other over in the water, and then Papa and green-dad started fighting and then started kissing so Cerulean ran off and bullied some crabs.”

Robin nodded, “Ah.” She had never pictured fatherhood any different for her two nakama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha I spent a bit of a while on this one, like wrote 200 words a day for three days then 4000 in one. Thank you for all the kudos and comments so far they make me happyyy
> 
> update: finished editing sorry for leaving this up for two days with so many mistakes


	9. Diving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a little longer than usual, was away for 3 days on a trip to Suffolk, then was in Oxford for a day. It's also the longest chapter so far
> 
> I might make some changes and add some stuff to it still but I wanted to put it up

Luffy hummed as he strolled along the streets. It was still their second day on the island, and they were planning to stay a little longer because Franky was doing some minor repairs to a window and Sanji’s kids were enjoying themselves. He liked Sapphire and Cerulean. Rulie was tonnes of fun, and Sapphy was awesome too, especially now that he knew she didn’t hate him.

He was alone in town currently, as Zoro, Sanji and the twins were at the beach and everyone else was doing their own thing. He had had fun the day before, running around and stretching his limbs in ways that startled the locals, but then Nami told him he was terrorizing them and that he needed to stop before they got kicked out. She didn’t complain when Robin summoned a giant foot and chased away children bothering Chopper though. What double standards.

He was currently making his way to the Post office, as apparently it was amazing! He had been discussing it with Sanji the evening before, while the cook was making dinner and Luffy was ~~trying to steal some food~~ helping.

“Rulie was mad today, running about like a hooligan,” Sanji was saying, alternating between chopping carrots and slapping a stretchy hand away from the sliced ham. “He got this notion that he _really_ wanted to go to the post office.”

“The post office?” Luffy asked, wondering if he could use his foot to get a different angle to steal some meat, “Why’s that?”

“He was just obsessed, every minute he asked to go,” Sanji sighed, and then added sharply, “Put that foot anywhere near my counters and it’s going in tomorrow’s soup.”

The foot moved back to the floor, “It must have been a cool post office,” Luffy hummed. He resolved to go, not deterred even when Sanji started insisting it was only a normal post office, Cerulean was just overly enthused.

So here Luffy was, strolling through the streets ready to visit the post office of adventure. As he walked along people ducked into their houses, obviously remembering the day before. It wasn’t his fault they’d never seen a man stretch his limbs 12 metres before, in this crazy ocean he felt as though people ought to be more accommodating.

Cerulean had been super cool about it, surprised for a moment but then accepting. It had turned out he already knew, having read extensively of the Straw Hat pirates before meeting them, but it was still nice to meet someone that wasn’t horrified upon seeing his limbs.

Nah, who was he kidding, people’s reactions were hilarious the first time they saw the way his body worked. 20 years on he was completely used to it, anyway.

“Along the high road until the flower stall and turn left,” Luffy muttered to himself, repeating the instructions Sanji had resignedly given him. Ah yes, there it was. An unassuming building, with red lettered words **Post Office** written above the doorway. He headed over, hoping there was some adventure to be had in there. They had had a pretty tame time recently, the last big thing that had happened was finding the pirate ship with the kidnapped Cerulean in it. And the time Rulie got eaten, he supposed.

The office was dark after being in the bright sunlight, but as his eyes adjusted he could see around better.

There was an old man sitting behind a desk putting stamps on envelopes, a few post boxes, a notice board, a ladder going up to a trapdoor and some newspapers and waiting chairs. It smelt a bit dusty, and the wooden furniture all looked a little old. There was a cobweb in one corner, and light filtering through the one small window. On the windowsill was a dying potted plant, desperate for a shred of light and obviously neglected.

Luffy wondered where the exciting part was, but he didn’t doubt Cerulean.

“Can I help you, young man?” the desk man was asking him. Luffy turned and nodded.

“Yeah, where’s the interesting stuff?”

The man looked confused for a moment, “Interesting?” He frowned, considering, “There might be something interesting in the archives, but the library might be better-,”

“Where are the archives?” Luffy’s heart was starting to beat faster, a familiar feeling building in his chest. Intuition, adventure around the corner.

Still puzzled, the man told him, “Up the ladder.”

In a flash, the captain had climbed up, flinging the trap door open and bounding onto the next floor. A cloud of dust rose, and he waved it away. It was pitch black, the only light coming from the open trap door. It smelt even mustier than the room downstairs.

“There should be a light switch on the wall,” the man called to him from downstairs. Luffy fumbled for it and found it, flicking it on. There was no effect for a moment, then an exhausted buzz and feeble flicker as it struggled into life. It was sufficient enough for sight though, and Luffy got to work searching for the interesting thing.

He sifted through one box. Nothing. A few old post cards, some ancient stamps, some bills. He decided to look at the back, that was where the secret stuff was.

Dust and more dust flew into the air as he moved things around, batting away spider’s webs and swatting at moths.

There was a box right at the back filled with a few journals. This looked more interesting, he thought, and tossed them out. They were leather bound. _Ship’s logs_ , he realised. A compass and some photographs, of a pirate crew, and a pocket watch. Deciding the journal was his best bet, he started reading.

_17 th November_

_A storm today, Gottfried was almost blown off the ship, but Dana caught him. We are continuing west for as long as possible, but this weather might hold us up. Quentin says he knows of an island nearby, we’ll stop there_

Boring, Luffy thought, just the normal stuff. He started flipping pages, scanning for anything interesting.

_5 th December. Vardy has recovered from his cold. He says it was the anchovy eyes that healed him, but it was more likely the medicine. There’s a rumour going around that Dana and Lyra are sleeping together. I hope not, romantic relations cause trickiness aboard ships like these. Quentin has been moping, Erland says he’s jealous and has had a crush on Lyra since she joined the crew. Dominque still thinks Dana likes me, but I doubt that. I’m still not over Allan, and we all know how terribly that ended. Well him and his parrot can go stuff themselves! There’s definitely nothing between Dana and Lyra anyway, I can tell._

_25 th December. Dana and Lyra have eloped and run away with our gold, Gottfried is furious and calls them good for nothing traitors, and Quentin won’t stop sobbing. We don’t know whether it’s over Lyra or the gold. Either way, this isn’t good, they’re the second and third nakama to leave the crew in Captain’s absence, Allan being the first. The turkey at dinner was good, though._

“Oh dear,” Luffy muttered, starting to get invested in this story. “On Christmas, too.”

_1 st January. Perhaps our look is starting to turn! Everyone is still in low morale since Dana and Lyra ran off and Vardy has another cold that no amount of anchovy eyes will fix. However, Dominque has found a treasure map! New year new Doolby Pirates! We’ll surely be rich this time. Quentin has gotten over Lyra and has started making passes on me. I don’t appreciate them._

TREASURE! Luffy grinned excitedly, skipping ahead.

_2 nd February. We found the island the map points to. I hope there’s something good in there. We are organising an expedition to start searching. Quentin bought me flowers. I noticed the other day he actually he actually has quite an attractive smile… But I don’t care. Pirate romantic entanglements lead to nothing but disaster._

_3 rd February. I slept with Quentin. Probably a mistake, but not the most important thing that has happened over the past day. We found the treasure, far more than we’ve ever seen before! We’re splitting it between ourselves and going shopping. I want a new bedpost, mine is cracked._

Luffy frowned, wondering why so little was being said about the treasure? Did they really spend it all, or was it left somewhere? Why was this journal left here? Why did the writer change their mind about Quentin so quickly?

_27 th February. Everything has gone wrong._

Oh dear.

_I’m furious and more furious. First of all, I was being used as a rebound by Quentin because he thought I’d be an easy target. He was just trying to get back at Lyra. He wrote her an extensive letter about it, and about all the gold we found, to try and make her jealous. I feel so used! Gottfried and Dominque are on my side and are giving him the cold shoulder. Vardy thinks it’s funny so I threw all his anchovy eyes overboard. SECOND of all, since receiving the letter from stupid Quentin, Dana and Lyra came after us! They’ve somehow amassed a huge crew of all women nakama (calling themselves the Dyra Pirates how unoriginal) and have raided our gold! We managed to get away with one chest left. Thank god, I bought my bedpost while I had the chance._

_We’re going to hide it until the coast is clear. There’s a small island where my nephew has a post office. We’ll go there, hide the treasure, lay low for a while until the Dyra pirates are off our tail and then come and get it back! Captain Doolby really ought to hurry back, the crew is in ruins without him. He’d never have let Quentin be such an ass._

“Quentin is such a hoe,” Luffy said to himself, but turned the page for any new news of the treasure. Nothing, the 27th of February was the last entry.

He picked up the photo of the crew to see if there was any clue in it. On the back was written _Doolby Pirates, 6 th June._ So before everything had gone wrong. A man clearly the captain standing in the middle, next to him a slender man with a woollen scarf, a tall man with a feather hat, a black-haired man with a Q pin on his shirt (“Quentin!”) and an admittedly nice smile, and off to the side two women holding hands, probably Dana and Lyra. There were about thirty pirates overall. The man with the scarf was holding the journal that Luffy had just been reading, and holding hands with a handsome fellow who had a parrot on his shoulder. What an exciting crew, Luffy thought. And _where_ was that treasure?

He jumped down the trapdoor and started the old man at the desk. “Where’s the treasure?” he demanded.

“The treasure?”

Luffy thrust the journal to him, and the photograph. “This journal talks about the Doolby Pirates hiding their last treasure chest! Was it this island?”

The man put on his reading glasses and peered at the photograph. “Well ruffle my feathers, I haven’t seen this in a while. The Doolby Pirates, a cumulative bounty of about 600,000 Beri, that was quite good in those days, but they got into a huge spat between themselves and some ex members of their crew, sailed off to fight it out and then were never seen again. Hundreds have searched the island for their chest, but no one’s found it. Their captain, Kai Doolby, left them alone for a few months while he went on a relaxation retreat and it all happened in his absence. He quit pirating after everything happened and stayed on his retreat for the rest of his life. It all happened about fifty years ago.”

Disappointed, at the slightly sad ending to the story as well as the doubtful whereabouts of the treasure, Luffy sighed. “Should I put this stuff back, then?”

“You might as well keep it, if you’re interested,” the man told him, “No one else will want to read about them. The log was kept by their navigator, Idie ‘Woolly Scarf’ Dae.  He was renowned for his misfortune in romance.”

“Seems so,” Luffy said, deciding to take the journal. It might have more clues about the treasure, he decided. He left the post office and blinked in the sunshine as he stepped onto the street.

Well, Cerulean hadn’t been wrong about being interested in the post office.

* * *

 

Back on the ship, he arrived just in time to hear about Sapphire and Cerulean’s day.

“It was fun,” Sapphire was telling Robin, “We swam and collected shells, and then we tried to push each other over in the water, and then Papa and green-dad started fighting and then started kissing so Cerulean ran off and bullied some crabs.”

“That sounds awesome,” Luffy sighed, “I love playing in the ocean!”

“You’d drown,” Usopp reminded him, and noticed the book in his hand. “Since when do you read?”

“I like reading!” Luffy insisted, “I read all the time!”

“I’ve never seen you read,” Cerulean piped up. “You like to spend your time playing and eating and fighting.”

“And reading,” Luffy added resolutely, “And I found this cool journal in the attic at the post office! Come see! There’s some really juicy stuff in here.”

At the promise of drama, the rest of his nakama came closer too. Sanji was a little surprised that Luffy had actually found something worth talking about while at the post office, but this was Luffy after all.

He could find adventure in the bottom of a can of pea soup.

“It’s written by the navigator, a guy named Idie, who keeps having really terrible boyfriends, one dumped him and left the crew because apparently his parrot told him to, and then this guy Quentin used him a rebound to try and make his crush jealous.”

“No way!” Cerulean breathed, “What did Idie do?”

“He and his friends Gottfried and Dominque totally froze Quentin out,” Luffy said seriously, “They also found some treasure, but then these two girls Lyra and Dana who had eloped and run away came back with their new pirate crew and took most of it, and then they apparently hid the last chest here!”

Chopper started vibrating in excitement, “Can we find it? The treasure? It’s here! Let’s find it!”

Cerulean started jumping up and down, the thought of some real pirate treasure energising him more than normal. Nami waved off their excitement and frowned.

“How long ago was this?” she asked.

“Fifty years,” Luffy told her cheerfully, “No one’s been able to find it.”

“Then how will we?” she sighed. “It’s only one chest after all, and we were going to leave as soon as possible to reach the East Blue, remember?”

“Come on! Let’s stay one more day! We can take out a search crew, and if by sundown we’ve found nothing we’ll leave straight away,” Luffy pleaded, “I want treasure!”

“Me too!” Cerulean cried.

“No treasure hunts for you,” Sanji told him, and Rulie’s face fell. “It can be dangerous, all sorts of booby traps.”

“When am I old enough to treasure hunt?”

Sanji hummed. “Thirteen.”

A long whine escaped his son’s face, “ _Papaaaa_! That’s aaaaages away!” He decided to take a new tactic, and turned his puppy eyes on. Immediately Sanji started to soften, then looked away sharply. “Thirteen!” And he walked briskly into the kitchen.

Luffy was continuing with his plans, “You like money don’t you Nami?”

She considered. “I _do_ like money…”

“Then one more day! Zoro you’ll come, right?”

The swordsman nodded, grinning, “Yeah, it sounds fun.”

“And we just need to leave one person behind to take care of the kids,” Luffy decided he liked acting responsible, after all a good uncle needed to look out for their nieces and nephews, “Who wants to babysit?”

Sanji offered, as he was tired of wondering about all day. Sapphire was putting up no fight about not being allowed to treasure hunt, and was already getting to work starting to make some art from her shells. She couldn’t decide whether to glue them to the paper and make a pattern, or sketch them, or turn them into necklaces for the crew. She had plenty of time to deliberate, she decided, settling to organise them in order of prettiness.

Cerulean was still arguing for all he was worth, having trotted into the kitchen after Sanji. “But I’m strong, Papa! I got eaten by a sea king and I’m fine!”

“Zoro cut you out before it could start digesting you,” Sanji, beginning to slice up mushrooms for dinner, “It proves nothing. Now are you going to keep complaining or help me cook?”

Never one to turn down some father-son cooking time Rulie quickly washed his hands and grabbed a stool to stand on. His father was a stubborn one when it came to decision making, so he decided he couldn’t fight it anymore.

He was still a little jealous the next day when the search team got ready to leave. It wasn’t as if the ship was boring. Papa was great fun to play with, and Sapphy if she was in the mood, but today she was in her art zone and he knew better than to try and distract her. He decided he could just play table tennis with Papa until the others got back.

Then Sapphy went over to Papa and tugged at his hand. “I want some string; can we go into town and get some? And also some glitter glue?”

“Sure thing, angel,” Sanji patted her soft hair. “Rules, put your shoes on we’re going shopping.”

Horror.

Quickly, he determined an escape plan. There was no way he talk his way out of shopping, or sneak onto the treasure hunting team, but he could… Use his super power… The Eyes. Whoever he turned his soft, hazel, wide eyes to were powerless to him.

Who to be his victim? Nothing could part captain from his treasure, or Nami from her money. Robin wanted to see if there was anything of historical value, Chopper was cuter than Rulie was and thus The Eyes were cancelled out.

Other-Dad, of course. He softened at the slightest turn of the gaze, and was strong and cool. He had wanted to go on the hunt though, and Luffy had named him personally. Rulie rolled back his shoulders, ready for the assault. He relaxed, swung his arms as he walked over to Other-Dad, and tapped his arm for attention.

“Papa and Sapphy are going shopping,” he said, making his eyes go soft and sad.

“Are they?” Zoro tuned in to the child’s bleak attitude quickly, “Is that bad?”

“I wanted to go scuba diving,” he sighed, “I saw a flyer for the cool reef in town, but Papa and Sapphy are gonna be busy and it’s gonna be boring by myself.” Time for the kill. He looked up at Zoro, hazel eyes pleading and large and purely angelic. “Would you come with me?” Seeing some hesitation in Zoro’s eyes, he decided to go one step further. “Please, dad?”

That worked, as Zoro felt his heart strings being pulled at. Dad, not other-dad or green-dad. “If you really want to, the others can handle treasure hunting without me.” Immediately Cerulean’s face turned and he beamed.

“Great! I’ll get my swimming shorts!” He scampered away, pausing to tell Sanji about the turn of events and not to wait for him.

Luffy was pouting, “Aw, Zoro are you not coming?”

“Nah, I’m going diving with Rulie,” Zoro said, finding he wasn’t disappointed to be missing out on the adventure at all.

“You and Sanji are lame since you became fathers,” Franky told him, but he seemed to be welling up at the cute thought and turned away.

“Be careful with the weather, it’s looking like it’ll rain,” Nami warned him as she pulled on her backpack, “Let’s head off guys. What does the journal say, Luffy?”

“Idie mostly complains about Quentin for a few pages, but oh- he says something about a rock shaped like a pencil!”

“Let’s look for that then,” Usopp said, jumping off the ship. Sapphire and Sanji followed too, heading to the town for glue and string. Sanji smiled at Zoro as he passed, pecking his lips and squeezing his hand in the way that he did when he was pleased with his husband.

* * *

 

The day was only getting hotter, and Cerulean was eager to slip into the cool water and dive deep down.

“You know how to swim don’t you?” Zoro checked.

“Mama used to take us, Periwinkle island had lots of tropical fish,” Cerulean said happily, as he got his snorkel goggles ready. “We need to head over to the other side of the island to reach the reef, there are paths marked out.”

He marched off, turning to grin at Zoro and beckon him over. “This will be fun, right?”

Zoro found himself smiling as he followed, “Yeah.”

The walk was short, just over a grassy hill, going past the town but not through it. They caught sight of the two curly blondes heading into town and the rest of their nakama disappearing into the woods. They continued over the hill and down the other side, to where there were few buildings scattered and a sheltered cove. Cerulean was chatty as ever, discussing with Zoro the best way to become super strong so that Sanji wouldn’t fuss over him anymore.

“You are seven, Rulie,” Zoro reminded him, “Most seven year olds are still at home and in school, not travelling with dangerous pirates.”

“But my father’s a pirate,” Cerulean argued, “And both my grandpa’s, so it’s got to be in my blood, right? Me being a cool, strong pirate?”

“You’ve gotta work for it too,” Zoro said.

“Then I will!” Cerulean was cheerful again, and a new point of topic entered his head, “So did you know it’s the male seahorses that carry the babies? Robin told me that! How funny.” He laughed, sounding like a slightly higher pitched Sanji as he did.

They reached the beach, and a small sign stating the reef was nearby, and good for diving. The sun was beating down, the sky a perfect blue, the sand soft and white. Zoro was struck suddenly by the thought of walking through a sticky forest, arguing with the others over which direction to take and constantly being told he was heading in the wrong one. But here he was, with a funny kid who called him Dad, about to dive into the cool, crystal water and see a reef.

“But your goggles on, Rulie,” he said, as the boy was already wading in. He followed and helped him adjust them so that they were watertight, and then put his own on. Rulie was a great swimmer for a kid, and quickly splashed into the deeper water and ducked under. Zoro followed, letting himself be completely submerged and breathing through his mouth.

The water was perfectly clear, rays of light breaking the surface and the sand clean and dotted with bits of seaweed, waving just slightly in the water. It was beautiful, and peaceful, and Cerulean was swimming ahead. The boy paused and turned, gesturing for Zoro to hurry up. The water felt cool and comfortable against his skin after the heated air, and he caught up with Cerulean effortlessly.

A competitive glint arrived in Rulie’s eyes at being out-swum, and he hurried on ahead, Zoro letting him take the lead, even if he could have been metres ahead in one strong glide. Up ahead he could already see the colours and movement of the reef, fish darting about among the rocks and plants. Rulie startled suddenly, pointing enthusiastically at something.

A turtle swam past shortly after, regarding the two of them gently, then going on his way. Rulie watched it delightedly, then did an underwater somersault and headed to the surface to take a breath. Zoro followed him and trod water.

“Did you see it! The turtle,” Rulie enthused, “We only had fish at Periwinkle! He was so cool!”

“Turtles are cool,” Zoro agreed, having seen thousands during his adventures at sea, “There are a few violent ones further out at sea though. We’ve seen some pulling whole cities.”

Cerulean’s eyes widened, “Can I see them?”

“The ship-city being pulled by the turtles was a dangerous casino that got stolen by Nami’s friend,” Zoro told him apologetically, “Last we heard of her she’d bought her own country and was ruling as a benevolent queen.”

Now used to these sorts of stories, Rulie nodded, put his snorkel back on and ducked back underwater. Zoro followed, and they made their way over to the reef.

Close up, it was spectacular. The colours that shimmered in the light upon the blue backdrop the of the ocean, more fish, more turtles. Small fish darting in and out of crevices, bigger ones swimming around slower, and then a crab scuttled out and across the sand. Cerulean, who loved crabs, swam to inspect it, flinching back but holding back a laugh as it attempted to pinch at him.

The reef was long, going as far as they could see before disappearing into the blue, and Cerulean decided he wanted to see more of it. Going up for air only briefly before coming back down, and inspecting every new thing he could find.

The rainbow of the coral was mesmerising, and the shoals of fish that flicked around extremely entertaining for an easily distracted young boy. Something caught his eye and he immediately dived down to it, reappearing with bright eyes and a small ball of moss on his hand. A marimo. Zoro swatted at him, annoyed, but grudgingly accepted the gift as it was further forced at him.

Bright orange fish were swimming past the, unbothered by the intruders. They swam in a short group, heading along the reef, and Cerulean followed them. He was enjoying himself immensely it was clear, but kept looking back to make sure Zoro was still with him. It wasn’t that he was worried about the man getting lost, but that he wanted to keep his company.

We can’t exactly get lost here, Zoro thought to himself.

That being said… Where were they?

For the first time, he wondered about his bearings. The reef wasn’t extensive, only long, if they went back the way they came they’d end up at the beach. Zoro looked up. There was no more clear light breaking the surface, the sea had gone dark suddenly, and chillier. Shadows were creeping across the previously bright, rainbow reef.

Not wanting to be underwater much longer, in a quick stroke he was over at Cerulean and gesturing for him to swim up. Noticing his worry, Rulie followed quickly.

Breaking the surface, the blue sky was gone, and replaced with steadily darkening clouds.

“The weather changed quickly,” Rulie said, and Zoro remembered Nami mentioning the rain. The sea rolled where they were swimming, a wind picked up and the sea started getting choppier. Cerulean shivered, blinking and looking at Zoro. They had swum far in the past hour; the sea would be dangerous to swim in all the way back. Already it was getting harder to stay afloat.

“Get on my back,” Zoro said, keeping his voice calm, and Rulie held on tightly with no argument. Next to them was only a sheer cliff face, the nearest beach all the way back where they had started. A larger wave than the one before slid dangerously beneath them. He could hear his stepson’s heart beginning to beat a little faster.

Going too near the cliffs might mean being flung against them, something Zoro’s body could handle, but definitely not Rulie’s. It felt cold now, and the first pattering of rain fell against them. A little way in the distance, the clouds were black. Cerulean liked the rain, he liked storms, but he had never been floating in the sea in the middle of one, nor did he want to.

Zoro felt a small hand grip his shoulder tightly. Slowly, Zoro started to swim, eyes scanning for anywhere they could climb onto land from. No point trying to climb the cliff, too sheer, to slippery in the rain and too dangerous with a precious child on his back.

A roll of thunder, and Rulie’s head snapped to look in the direction it came in. Zoro didn’t turn to look, pretending to be completely unbothered by the turns of events. It was rare he felt worry, or fear, but even he wouldn’t want to be in the ocean at a time like this. By himself would be bad enough, disastrous with his kid here.

The rain was a little heavier. His vision was getting worse and his son was shivering.

He picked up pace, but the currents were noticeable suddenly in the writhing ocean. Then, just a little way ahead, he saw a cave, hidden by some rocks and hanging seaweed, but there. Rapidly, he sped up, swimming in fast, strong strokes and checking to see if it was safe.

In any case, safer than the ever more turbulent ocean, so he made his decision and went inside it, placing the boy down on the ground. Another crack of thunder, this one closer, and the rain was heavier now.

Cerulean climbed up onto a ledge, out of the way of the water. It occurred to Zoro that if the storm got really bad, or the tide came in, the cave might flood and they drown.

No. He would swim back to shore no matter what, Zoro in his life had seen so much worse, but with such lower stakes.

“I guess we should have listened to Nami,” Cerulean wondered, staring out of the mouth of the cave and out at the rain. “I hope the ship is alright, and Sapphy. She doesn’t like rain.”

“The ship’s seen worse,” Zoro told him matter-of-factly. “And Sapphy’s with Sanji, she’ll be fine.”

Keeping a level head in times of danger kept others calm, he knew from experience. If you act calm, they’ll be calm too. It seemed to be working on Rulie, who relaxed against the slimy rock wall. “It’s alright in here, just a bit cold.”

The air was cool in the cave, and they had just been in the ocean, but the temperature itself wasn’t too awful.

“We’ll be fine here until the rain stops,” Zoro said, as a flash of lightning lit the cave, “The real danger is the wrath of your father when we get back.”

Cerulean grinned, “He won’t be happy we went snorkelling in a storm.”

“We didn’t mean to,” Zoro defended himself. “He’ll worry about you and yell at me.”

“I can try and take some of the blame,” Rulie offered, face and tone genuine, “He never stays mad at me! I was the one that wanted to come out anyway. I didn’t want to go shopping with papa and Sapphy for art supplies, while everyone else was out treasure hunting.” Thoughtfully he added, “This way we got some adventure, anyway.”

He’s kind of like Luffy, in that way, Zoro was musing. Searching out for adventure. Not like Usopp and Nami, trying to stay on the safe path. Sanji was in the middle, he would be the first to jump into a fight, but happy to avoid conflict too, content to run from a monster instead of punching it like Luffy would be eager to.

Zoro wondered where Sanji was. Probably gone inside with Sapphire, making hot chocolate for the girl who so hated the storms, letting her sit on his lip and closing the curtains to keep out the lightning. He was so nice, really. Caring, always putting himself second. Brave too, ready to do anything for his friends. The time he had been ready to sacrifice himself for Zoro at Thriller Bark, boarded the sea train at Water 7 alone to save Robin. And then so soft and warm under it all, and with that bright smile, that could dazzle a man with six pairs of sunglasses on.

“What are you thinking about?” Cerulean broke his thoughts.

“Your father.”

“I thought so, you pulled a dumb expression.” It was in these moments Zoro remembered why Sanji referred to him as Savage Cerulie.

“He’s a good person, is all,” Zoro said.

The young boy nodded. “I like Papa. Before I knew him, I worried he wouldn’t care about us, but one of the first things he said to me was to call him Papa. Then he was nothing but nice to me, except when Luffy convinces me to steal snacks with him.”

“He’s really taken to fatherhood,” Zoro agreed, thinking about how naturally Sanji treated his two kids, albeit with a little awkwardness initially.

“So have you,” Cerulean said, with those clear, honest eyes. Zoro felt a little surprised at the words, but then smiled at him.

“I don’t mind it.”

“You play with me all the time, and let me touch your weights and stuff, and you’re always super nice to Sapphy,” Rulie continued. “And you’re cool.”

“Thanks,” Zoro mused. “You’re cool too, Rules.”

Cerulean lit up as though he’d been awarded the highest of honours, and then flushed happily. “Do you think so? A boy once told me I was lame and cooking was lame, and it was lame that I went around pretending my dad was a cool pirate chef.”

“That boy was lame,” Zoro defended his son readily.

“Yeah,” Cerulean nodded forcefully. “Anyway, Granny scared him after that and he never spoke to me again.”

From the little Zoro had seen of Clementine, she did seem truly frightening. Zoro noticed Rulie’s face had gone a little sad. “I miss her. And my island. And mama. I like it on the ship and I like Papa but I liked it there.”

Gently, Zoro shifted closer and laid his hand on Rulie’s shoulder. The blonde shuffled closer and rested his forehead against Zoro’s side. “I’m glad you’re my dad too.”

“Me too,” Zoro’s chest had gone tight, the same way it did when little Sapphire took his hand that first time, and when she had asked him to sit with her during the storm. He decided the time for sappiness was over. “Want to see if there’s anything interesting in this cave?”

The distraction technique worked perfectly, and Rulie shot up to explore. “Hey, wait up, don’t slip-,”

There was a yelp as he slipped and stumbled to the floor. Zoro followed more slowly and placed him back on his feet. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” Rulie rubbed his knee then stood straight, “It’s dark but I can just about see.”

The two of them walked a little deeper into the cave, being careful of the slippery floor beneath the feet. Behind them the rain continued pouring, but thunder and lightning had calmed down. Zoro kicked something underfoot, and frowning bent to pick it up.

It was a strange pin, squinting he could see it was in the shape of a “Q”. Probably worth something in town, he pocketed it. Rulie had skipped on ahead, occasionally pausing to wait for Zoro. It was darker at the back of the cave, and Cerulean bumped into something wooden.

Eagerly, the flipped open the lid to see inside. The locks were rotten and it was easy to see inside. He slipped his hand inside and rooted about, mostly hard, metal things, but then he felt something softer. His stomach grumbled as he realised it was a fruit, and he quickly took a bite.

It was disgusting, and he started choking on it.

“For God’s sake, Rulie, it’s rotten it’s been in there for years, spit it out,” Zoro sighed, taking the rest from him and throwing it away.

Cerulean swallowed what he had been chewing. “Papa says never spit anything out, you’re wasting the earth’s gifts that way.”

“Papa’s gonna make you get food poisoning then,” Zoro told him. “What else is in here?”

He stepped forward to root through it as well. It was all metal, but not gold coins. He pulled something out and took it to the lighter part of the cave, seeing that it was a plate, not gold but with jewels around its rim. Definitely worth something, he decided.

Cerulean was rooting through enthusiastically, having forgotten the ordeal in the ocean immediately, and was now trying to find the most valuable thing possible. At the bottom, under all the plates and goblets, a satin bag.

Picking it up, he could hear jingles coming from inside it, and promptly shook it harder. “Coins!” he said delightedly, opening up the bag, “Are they worth much?”

Zoro peered in, and even in the low light could see the shining gold in there. “There’s not many, but it’s something. We can count ‘em up and exchange them at the next island, and the plates.”

Cerulean was practically buzzing, “So I ended up on the real treasure hunt anyway, didn’t I?” He laughed at the irony.

“You’ll be as bad as Luffy if your nose for danger is like this,” but Zoro was grinning, glad the boy had gotten the adventure he’d wanted.

“Do you think Luffy will like the treasure?” he was enthusing, “How will we get it to him?”

“We’ll swim back to shore, sail the boat as near as possible to this cave and bring it on board that way, there’s not point trying to carry it ourselves.”

Nodding, Cerulean accepted this judgement and picked up a few items to inspect in the light from the mouth of the cave. Rain was still falling steadily outside, but the dark clouds had passed leaving behind lighter ones. The waves were crashing less menacingly, and it was clear they were safe on the ledge, no risk of flooding.

The plates were silver with rubies encrusted around the edge, some were bronze, and they all looked old but still valuable. Not as good as gold but worth a lot. And then there were the golden coins, even in their small quantity worth more than Cerulean had ever seen in one place.

“Never seen treasure before?” Zoro asked him, amused at the boy’s wide, wonder filled eyes. He shook his head and brought a coin close to his head for closer inspection, then put it down again and looked at the plates again.

He looked pensive as a thought occurred to him. “Pirates split their treasure equally don’t they?” Zoro nodded. “Does that include me and Sapphy now?”

“You’re as much nakama as the rest of us,” Zoro told him, “Though whether Nami will let you see any of it as another thing. She’s a brutal treasurer.”

Cerulean laughed. “Pirates are cool, even if you end up in tricky situations.”

“Like getting caught in the ocean in a storm, or getting eaten by a sea monster.”

“Why does everyone bring that up?” Cerulean huffed, “It was a onetime thing! I don’t make a habit of being eaten by giant fish!”

* * *

 

The rain cleared, and the sun came out as innocently as though it never been gone. Zoro stretched out his limbs, sore from sitting for so long, and turned to Cerulean. “Can you swim back?”

“We’ve been resting for ages, I’m fine,” Cerulean stood up and started copying Zoro’s stretches, frowning in concentration.

“You haven’t eaten since breakfast,” Zoro reminded him, “And you’ve probably caught a cold from the rain.”

“Sapphy catches colds, I don’t,” Cerulean said with a note of surety, “Let’s go back before Papa worries anymore.”

The boy was right, Sanji was a worrier when it came to his kids, and if they stayed out any longer he’d probably tie Rulie to the mast anytime in his absence. They’d put the treasure back into the chest and had dragged it as close to the mouth of the cave as they could get it, carefully as the wood of the chest was rotting and delicate.

Cerulean jumped lightly off the ledge and over to the water, jumping in.

He sunk like a rock.

With a horrified yelp Zoro was in after him, grabbing the flailing child and pulling him back to the surface. “What the hell, Rulie? What’s wrong?”

His eyes looked droopy and tired, his limbs limp and his breathing harsh. “I’m tirrred, Dad…”

He looked like… Luffy did, when he fell into the ocean, or when they bathed in hot springs. He looked like Chopper did when he tumbled into the water, and Robin that rare time she had lost her footing on some rocks and slipped into rockpool. (Sanji had screamed loudly and been close to tears for an hour, though she was entirely unhurt).

Realisation and fear was striking Zoro at what had happened. But where could Cerulean have gotten a Devil’s Fruit from?

The one he had eaten earlier, that Zoro had blamed it’s bad taste on being rotten. Sanji wasn’t going to be happy, but Zoro didn’t waste any time contemplating this, as he didn’t want Cerulean to be in the sea any longer than he needed to be. And if it wasn’t even a fruit causing this, he needed to get the boy to Chopper for whatever illness was ailing him.

The swim back to shore was simple, follow the reef counter clockwise (Rulie prodded him in the right direction) and then over the hill and back to the secluded bay where their ship lay. Out of the water, Cerulean regained his energy almost immediately, this confirming Zoro’s fears.

“How strange!” the boy was laughing, “I feel fine now! I guess I’m just tired of swimming.”

“Mm,” Zoro said, grabbing his hand and walking briskly back to the boat. It was cooler than it had been before, the storm had broken the weather, but it was still relatively warm. Zoro was relieved to see the ship the same as before, the sail taken in, probably by Sanji.

Speaking of Sanji, upon seeing them, a figure sailed through the air and landed on the sand. Graceful as it had been, the man’s face was far from serene.

“WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN?”

He stormed forward and started checking over Cerulean, who was unbothered and eager to tell about their day. “We went swimming!”

“In that storm?! Do you have any idea how worried I was?? You two could have drowned!”

“We found a cave-,” Cerulean started, cut over by the rest of the crew coming over.

The captain jumped down, grinning. “You two are back! We stopped the hunt when the storm hit, but we thought you got caught in it while in the water.”

Sanji had ended his assault on Cerulean and was staring at Zoro, hands on his hips and eyes hard. “What do _you_ have to say for yourself?”

But Zoro knew his husband, and saw behind the glare that he was upset. So he gently put his hands on Sanji’s shoulders and pressed their foreheads together. “Everything’s fine, babe,” he said quietly, “No one’s hurt, Rulie’s fine, I wouldn’t have let anything happen to him.”

The effect was immediate, and the blonde softened under his hands, his defence mechanism of anger in the face of fear fading away. “I know but… It’s still hard to be on the ship, in the middle of a storm, knowing you’re out there in that awful ocean somewhere and anything could have happened.”

“We found a cave, Papa!” with little tact, Cerulean was continuing with his tale, “Guess what was in it! Guess, guess!”

“What! What!” Luffy was matching the child’s enthusiasm.

“Treasure!” The boy was jumping in delight, and Luffy’s eyes widened in equal joy.

“EHH! You found the treasure!” Luffy started looking around wildly, as though it could be right there, “What kind!”

“Plates and goblets and some gold coins!”

“That sounds like it’s worth a lot,” Nami’s eyes had turned into Beri signs, “Let’s go retrieve it before anyone else does!”

Zoro decided now was the time to add that something else had happened. “They weren’t the only things in the chest,” he said slowly, trying to put across with his expression it was something serious.

Sanji looked concerned at once. “What else?”

“A fruit.” Zoro’s expression turned even more pained, and Sanji’s was starting to look hard.

“What kind of fruit?”

“Well Cerulean ate it,” the crew was silent as they listened, eyes wide. Cerulean was watching with innocent eyes, not quite sure what they were so enthralled by. Zoro took a deep breath and continued, “And then… He couldn’t swim back. The water rejected him.”

A long, tense silence followed. Sanji’s expression was almost blank as he processed this.

Usopp exhaled deeply, looking a little afraid for Zoro. Chopper looked shaken, Robin a little amused, Nami’s face frozen.

Only Luffy was lively, cackling loudly as he said what they had all realised. “Rulie’s a devil’s fruit user now? Cool!”                                         

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's thaaat. I'm not sure yet how long this story's going to be, I'm estimating less than 100,000 but don't hold me to it. I have a bunch of ideas for stuff to happen, will start work on the next chapter probably tonight.  
> What do you think of the Doolby Pirates? I started writing the journal entries randomly and then a sort of plot emerged by accident, but I like detail
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments, they make my day always


	10. Slime man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yesterday was one month since I published this, and I'm up to 52,000 words! That's quite good going I think

Sanji was displeased.

This was the nicer version that Sapphire was using, it was a more pleasant outlook on the situation, rather than Sanji was livid and murderous and ready to punch a sea king. Zoro had been kicked, Cerulean had been kicked, poor Usopp had been kicked, simply for being in the line of sight. Everyone else had swiftly ducked out of the way.

The crew had all gathered in the galley to consider what to do, steam still leaving Sanji’s ears as Cerulean tried to figure out what power he’d received.

“ _How_  could you have let this happen!?” Zoro was still receiving the brunt of his husband’s anger.

“It was dark,” he tried to defend himself, “I wouldn’t have let him take a bite if I saw it was a Devil’s fruit!”

“We live on a ship! He’ll drown! He  _loves_  swimming!”

Cerulean stopped inspecting himself for changes. “I forgot I can’t swim anymore.” His face had fallen a little. “You guys can’t play in the water without me, okay?”

Sanji softened and he reached over to pet Cerulean’s hair. “We wouldn’t dream of it.”  

Luffy stepped in and said, “It’s not all bad! I’ve been on the sea for ten years as a devil fruit user, I still play! We can play together!” His grin widened, “We might be able to do all kinds of fun stuff with whatever your power is!”

Cheered, Cerulean went back to inspecting himself. “How does this work? I don’t feel any different.”

“You become aware of it eventually,” Robin told him, “It becomes such an obvious part of you, you can’t think how you were ever not like this.”

“I found out when Shanks shook me upside down and my legs stretched,” Luffy told him cheerfully. “I can try that!”

Cerulean said “Sure!” and the same time Zoro and Sanji said, “No!”

In a flash, the boy was upside and held by ankles by a beaming Pirate King, who was shaking him up and down. Sanji watched in horror. “What are you doing to my son??” he demanded, stepping forward to stop him.

Then a rather strange thing happened.

Cerulean’s legs extended and his torso sunk to the floor, but the legs didn’t stay peach and normal looking like Luffy’s did when he stretched his body. His ankles stayed pink, and his thighs, but in the middle section where the limbs were stretching the legs had turned to a dark purple slime.

Luffy looked as though his life could not have been any better than in that exact moment. Sanji looked like his life could not get any worse, he seemed on the cusp of having an aneurism. “What the EVERLOVING  _FUCK?!”_

“Woah!” Cerulean gasped, from where his head was touching the floor. Luffy released the legs, and they snapped back into place, skin returning to a normal peach colour as his limbs resumed their ordinary shape.

“Can you do that to the rest of your body?” Usopp asked in slightly horrified wonder. Excited, horrified wonder.

Cerulean looked down at his finger, and pulled it. It stretched immediately, turning the same purple-slime consistency as it was put under pressure, while the rest of his hand and the tip of his finger where he was holding it remained ordinary. Eager to see how far it would go, Cerulean pulled it further. It went easily, thinning out slightly. Tentatively Chopper reached out a hoof and touched the matter.

It stuck slightly to him as he pulled away, but didn’t give much resistance. “It’s like slime,” he said, “But thick and stretchy. How do you feel, Rulie?”

“Fine,” the boy said honestly, looking excited at the new properties of his body. “I wonder if I could…”

His entire body turned to purple slime and slopped to the floor with a squelching sound. Sanji, Chopper, Usopp and Nami screeched. Zoro’s eyebrows raised. Sapphire frowned, not particularly impressed. Luffy laughed.

The puddle of purple slime that they supposed was Cerulean (though it was a deep purple colour, not a blue) started moving about, squeezing until it (he?) was a small ball. Intrigued, Luffy stepped on him (it?).

Sanji snapped out of his screaming and the side of his foot promptly collided with Luffy’s face. “ _Don’t fucking step on my son!_ ”

“Well, he is Zoro’s  _stepson,_ YO-HO-HO-HO!” Brook’s humour wasn’t appreciated by Zoro, who turned to glare at him.

Luffy picked up his foot, and they saw the floor was empty. Slightly afraid, glancing timidly at Sanji’s furious expression, he inspected the bottom of his sandal.

A slightly squished slimeball was stuck to it, which then expanded and flowed to the floor, where it continued to pulse and grow until it was Cerulean shaped, at which point his normal skin tone and clothes returned. “Cool!” he breathed. Zoro reached out to put an arm around Sanji’s waist, hoping to steady the blonde, who was starting to look as though he might faint. This was really not how he had imagined his day going.

“It appears he turns to the purple consistency when stretched, and can turn his body into it at will and then manipulate his shape,” Robin observed thoughtfully.

“My son’s a fucking slime man,” Sanji sighed, turning his face into Zoro’s shoulder, who petted the blonde’s hair sympathetically. He turned sharply when Cerulean started to change again. “No slime in my kitchen! Outside only!”

“Aww,” Cerulean pouted, as Luffy picked him up and ran outside to the deck, Usopp, Chopper and Franky darting after them enthusiastically.

“A slime man,” Sanji sighed again, turning his face back to the sanctuary of Zoro’s shoulder, where there was no rubber captains, reindeer doctors or slime sons, only darkness and the familiar feel of his husband. “Out of everything, he turned into a slime man.”

Zoro only grunted, not wishing to convey that he thought it was pretty cool, and probably beneficial for a small boy on a dangerous ship. However, he didn’t want Sanji any madder at him, as he seemed to have been forgiven

“We’ll just have to make sure he stays away from the sea,” Robin said, “I manage it, as do Brook, Luffy and Chopper.”

“They fall into the ocean every other hour,” Sanji’s said, his voice muffled. “They literally forget that they’ll drown, decide to go for a swim and jump in.”

“Rulie’s pretty smart,” Nami piped up, “I don’t think he’ll go jumping in.”

“Rulie forgets that he’s allergic to cinnamon,” Sapphire deadpanned, “He keeps trying to make cakes with it in and eat them. Mama threw away all of it, but he kept buying more.”

Sanji had jumped into action. “Rulie’s allergic to cinnamon? Why didn’t he tell me? I was going to make snickerdoodles!”

“He forgot,” Sapphire said, as her father ran to the spice rack to destroy any trace of cinnamon in there. He didn’t even react to the continually louder wow’s coming from outside.

“Wow!”

“WOW!”

“ _WOW!!!_ ”

His husband seemingly recovered, Zoro decided it was safe to go look outside at what was happening. On deck, a large purple slime elephant stood proudly, the same size as Franky, laughing with the voice of a seven-year-old boy. Disturbed, he turned back into the kitchen. Sapphire was sat on the counter, purple crayon in hand, illustrating the event.

She titled it, “Dumb brother becomes a slime elephant”.

* * *

 

The boy seemed to forget the “no slime in the kitchen” rule pretty quickly, eager to demonstrate new things to his adoring fans (Chopper and Luffy). A less adoring fan, his father, willingly reminded him of the rule with his foot. To Luffy’s delight, the area that was kicked became slime and stretched inwards, before popping out again.

“As much as I love watching Cerulean’s new atrocities,” Nami interrupted, “We need to discuss retrieving the treasure, right? Cerulean can direct us to the cave, Franky send out the Mini-Merry and get it for us.”

Luffy nodded enthusiastically, “Let’s go get it now! Before other hunters get to it!”

“No one but us knows about, only we know about the journal right,” Nami said, “We can wait until morning.”

Zoro suddenly remembered something, the talk about the journal jogging his memory, “Guys, I found this pin on the floor of the cave.” He took the small “Q” pin out of his pocket and showed it to them.

Luffy’s jaw dropped. “That’s the bastard Quentin’s pin! It’s in the photo of their crew!” A resolute expression passed over his face, “Let’s destroy it! In honour of poor Idie!”

“Don’t destroy it, keep as a trophy,” Brook suggested, who had been reading the journal extensively and composed many songs based on the love stories in it, “Ah this pin is inspiring me… I feel a song coming on! Thank you for dinner, Sanji-san.” He stood and rushed out of the room to his piano.

Nami snapped her fingers to get their attention back, “So we’ll head off at dawn tomorrow, get the treasure and split it.”

Thus, at dawn, the ship left the desolate cove and sailed smoothly over to the cave where Zoro and Cerulean had been before. Nami navigated around the shallower parts of the reef until they got as close as possible to the entrance.

“Are you  _sure_  this is it,” she asked for the 3rd time, never fully trusting of Zoro’s locational abilities.

“Yes,” he grumbled, “Rulie agrees, too.”

“This is it!” the boy confirmed, “Can we just swim over?”

“You’ll sink,” said almost everyone at once, and he looked quite downcast.

“Oh yeah.”

Franky got out the mini-merry, which only Luffy, Zoro, Nami and himself boarded while everyone else watched from the side of the boat. The pouting Cerulean was being comforted by Sanji, who was stroking his back gently in sympathy.

The cave was definitely the same one he and Cerulean had been in the day before, with its damp walls and dripping ceiling. It was a bit nicer with the sun rays entering at the mouth, instead of a storm raging outside. Zoro led the way to the back of the cave, where the chest remained. Franky was unable to fit inside and stayed on the boat.

As before, damp had rotted away parts of it, and the lock was broken. Luffy, with no care for such things, swung the lid open and it broke off instantly.

He received a sharp thwack on the back of the head from Nami and then the three of them peered inside. It wasn’t the most treasure they had seen in their lives, nothing like Skypiea, but it was still a lot.

Even as Pirate King, with no shortage of treasure, Luffy got excited at the prospect of more. “Thanks, Idie!” he said happily. He and Zoro picked up what was left of the chest, (“Carefully!” Nami instructed) and carried it back out. They placed it on the boat and sailed back to the ship.

Sapphire, who had never seen pirate treasure before, came over quickly to inspect it. In the light the plates looked far more spectacular, and the gold very shiny.

“Pretty!” she breathed.

“Even split between twelve there’s a lot,” Nami was smiling contently in the way she did when they came into new wealth. Sapphire blushed lightly at being included in the treasure split but didn’t say anything. She’d been about to ask if she was old enough, then wondered if pirating even had an age threshold. Chopper was the youngest of the crew and he’d been fifteen, right? Anyway, she said nothing and decided to just take her luck.

Then the navigator promptly picked up the entire thing and carried it away, “Well! I’ll be taking this, we’ll exchange it for money later, for now I’ll lock it away.” She was humming happily as she walked away.

“Will we ever see any of it again?” Cerulean asked.

“Unless she increases your interest,” Sanji told him. Cerulean sighed, even at seven and on the crew less than three months, he had already fallen victim to Nami’s banking tyranny.

“We can be on our way to Baratie now,” Franky was saying cheerfully, “All our business here is done! Have you called Zeff yet, Sanji?”

“Nah,” Sanji stretched up his arms, “I avoid all contact with him if possible.”

“Then why are we going to visit him?” Sapphire asked.

“Because I haven’t seen him in ages.”

Deciding she was going to get any more sense out her father, she let it rest.

* * *

 

Cerulean always had been good at adapting to things. When he accidentally dyed his hair pink, he decided it was a good quirky look and started explaining the perks of it to judgemental strangers. He had settled into the Pirate King’s crew with little resistance, despite it being a life unrecognisable from his last one. He was doing quite well adapting to his new powers, with one exception.

Much alike their captain, he kept forgetting he couldn’t swim any longer. Cerulean loved the water, he always went swimming if the weather was alright and saw the present days as no exception. But of course, once he jumped in his body was devoid of energy and he started drowning. Franky had been watching the first time it happened and pulled him out with a rope.

Sanji had swan dived over and caught the boy mid-air as he tried to enter the water. Zoro would sail in swiftly to grab him. Luffy would heroically jump in after him, only to cause twice the trouble as he too started to drown.

Eventually, and sulkily, the boy started to get used to this way of life, and stared sadly over the side of the rails instead. Sapphire took pity on him and stopped swimming herself. She had started quite a project with her shells.

Initially unsure what to do, she had started down at her supplies. The shells, the glitter glue and the string. Papa had mentioned something about Usopp being artistic, so she went and asked for his help. Looking honoured, he dutifully sat with her and scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“A fine collection you have here,” he said, nodding seriously, his confident smile etched onto his face, the one he used when he was about to tell a tale in which he was much cooler than he was in real life, “And it is only natural you came to the Great Usopp, best artist in the world, with 8000 art awards, to assist you in your endeavours.”

Sapphire simply nodded. “What should I do with these?”

“I’ve seen some of your sketches before, and it’s a shame to tarnish the shells without any capture of what they were like once, so why not draw them and then get more artistic.”

She started nodding enthusiastically, “I need to get my crayons!”

“Pah, crayons,” Usopp closed his eyes and shook his head, “Use my sketching pencils.”

The look of delight on her face was more beautiful than any treasure Usopp had seen on his travels. With a little guidance from her new best friend, Sapphire sketched the shells in excruciating detail, as Usopp pointed out where she should be shading, and told her to lighten her lines. He looked a little bashful when Sanji walked over and handed them glasses of juice, but the man was happy with how his shy daughter was integrating well with the group.

His happiness was short lived as a large slime ball bounced down deck. It was Cerulean’s new preferred mode of transport, and he hated it.

Sketches finished, over dinner they discussed in detail what now to do with the shells. Sapphire wanted to stick them to a sheet of paper with the glitter glue in cute patterns, and turn some of them into necklaces with the string.

“Some of them will be too delicate to drill holes into,” Usopp was humming, “And some won’t stick properly to the paper, so let’s organise them beforehand.” She nodded seriously, taking in the wise words from her teacher.

“Can I help?” Cerulean was shovelling food into his mouth in a way that could rival Luffy. He stopped to sneeze, and Chopper eyed him worriedly.

“You destroy everything you touch,” Sapphire said shortly, “When you tried to help me paint you splattered it everywhere and the stain never came out of the carpet.”

Considering for a second, Cerulean agreed it was probably for the best to keep away from anything artsy. Besides, he and Luffy had organised a “who can stretch their limb the furthest” competition, which he was eager to begin.

Sanji asked to see Sapphire’s drawings, and she scurried to grab them before thrusting them under his nose beaming.

His usual over-exaggerated response followed, her cheeks glowing pink at being called the artistic prodigy of the century. He looked at each one closely, and said, “I like this one best, it’s like a professional sketched it.” She nodded in agreement.

“That one’s my favourite too!”

“Shall we frame them?” he asked her brightly, “It would be nice to have some original artwork on the walls, instead of just wanted posters.”

“I like the wanted posters,” Luffy defended, “They remind us of our achievements!”

“And heinous crimes!” Usopp agreed passionately, high fiving his captain.

* * *

 

Sapphire’s sketches were framed, and half of them placed in the galley and the other half in the games room. After dinner, she and Usopp retired to said games room to organise the shells.

She showed him her favourites. “I want this blue one for a necklace for Papa, then this silvery one for green-dad, and the purple once for Cerulean because he’s purple now.” With a second though she added, “Oh, and you can have this red one for helping me.”

The sniper beamed at her, touched at being included. “What about one for you?”

“This one’s my favourite,” she showed him it in the palm of her hand, a conch-like shell, soft pink in the centre and pale orange on the outside.

“I like that one too,” he said, “They should all be fine for jewellery.”

They decided to stick the remaining shells to cardboard instead of paper, so to be sturdier, and then decided cardboard was too plain so they needed to jazz it up a bit.

“We could stick sand to it,” Sapphire suggested, “That way it’s like a real beach.”

“We’re out at sea, though, where’ll we get it?”

Sanji, the giver of all things Sapphire wanted, was sought. Franky went down in the submarine shortly, and returned with a bag of sand from the ocean floor.

“Thank you, Papa! And Franky!” eyes alight the girl scrambled away with the bag.

She covered the piece of cardboard with sand after spreading glue over it, and then got to work arranging her shells. Sanji was stood nearby pouring drinks for Nami and occasionally turning to smile at his daughter when she looked up to catch his attention. She did love her Papa a lot, and now they were off to meet his! She wondered if Sanji and Zeff were anything alike.

Cerulean wondered over as she was placing conch shells before getting ready to stick them in place. He suddenly sneezed loudly, little body falling over backwards and kicking the piece of cardboard. Shells scattered everywhere.

A mellow girl, Sapphire simply sighed. Her irritable streak did shine through as she turned to look at him, “As I said, you destroy everything you touch.”

Chopper had all but flown over, and stuffed a thermometer into Cerulean’s mouth “A temperature! A temperature! It was the cold ocean! He’s sick! Call a doctor!” He started running in agitated circles around the boy, Sapphire and Usopp.

“You’re the doctor,” Cerulean reminded him.

“Yes!” Chopper turned into heavy point, grabbed the bewildered boy and tossed him onto a bed in the medical boy. Sanji had followed with Sapphire at his heels.

“It’s not real surprise, he was in the ocean during that storm,” Sanji reminded the fretting Chopper.

“He’ll have to stay in bed,” Chopper had turned back into his Brain point, and was scribbling into a medical chart, “No playing with Luffy.”

Aghast, Cerulean began to complain. “But- ACHOO!”

Sanji handed him a napkin and started arranging pillows more comfortably for his son. Sapphire meanwhile sat slightly shocked on one of the visitor chairs. All her life it had been her who was the weakling, her who caught the colds each winter while Cerulean continued to play in the snow. Sapphire was rarely allowed to walk in it, unless bundled in twelve layers while her brother got away with a coat and a scarf.

Now here Cerulean sat, sniffling and grumpy and complaining to Sanji who was humming in response. This was different too, it was always mama who made them warm milk and honey and patted their hair, now it was Papa.

A pang of homesickness hit Sapphire, as it did when her thoughts strayed to their old life, but she overcame it and tried to remember what Rulie did for her when  _she_  was sick. He usually sat with her, brought his toys and chatted endlessly in a way she would never be able to. Mama and Granny would visit too and tell them stories.

Deciding to be a good sister, she hopped up the stairs to the kitchen to make warm milk like mama did for her. Sanji had shown her how to use the stove, and she knew the recipe off by heart from being ill so many times.

“You beat me to it Saph,” came Sanji’s pleasant voice from behind her, “Your brother just asked for some.”

She glowed happily. “Want me to stir or get you a stool?” He had noticed she couldn’t quite reach the pan where it sat.

“You stir,” she said, the concoction of milk and honey already mixed up, which was the important part.

“Yes ma’am,” he strolled over and grabbed a wooden spoon, “Why don’t you go keep your brother company?”

She nodded and went to grab her discarded artwork. Usopp had put the shells back where they were, because she had luckily marked with pencil where she wanted each to go.

“How’s the invalid?” he asked her cheerfully, “Luffy’s real mad that he’s lost his best playmate.”

“He’s sneezing a lot and is grumpy,” she told him, “I’m going to keep him company because otherwise he’ll be grumpier,” and she skipped away back to the medical bay.

Cerulean was being checked over by Chopper, and was still pouting. A box of tissues had been placed next to him, which he kept grabbing for as a new sneeze overcame him.

“I think it’s just a cold, not pneumonia,” Chopper said happily, “He might have gotten something like hyperthermia from the ocean.”

“It’s a tropical ocean,” Cerulean reminded him.

“You still caught a cold,” Chopper told him, packing away his medical supplies. “Sapphy can call me if you start feeling hot and shivery, okay?”

As he left, Sapphire hopped up onto the now vacant stool and sat with her chin in her hands, staring at her brother.

He stared back. “What?”

“I’m usually the sick one,” she said, “What should I do?”

“Be my personal slave,” was his first answer.

“No,” was her response, “Dummy.”

Cerulean sighed and collapsed dramatically against his pillows. “Entertain meeeee!”

“Nami taught me how to French braid my hair, I can try it on you.”

“My hair’s not long enough,” he reached up to tug at it. “I’ve been growing it out though, does it look good?

Back on Periwinkle Island he had kept it kind of short, but since joining the crew he decided he needed a more rugged  ~~more like Sanji~~  look. He wondered if it was too far to grow out a side fringe too.

“You look scruffy,” Sapphire told him.

“So does Papa,” Cerulean said, as though that made it alright.

“I don’t look scruffy,” Sanji frowned, walking in with the warm milk. “I put a lot of time into my looks.”

“Why is your hair so uneven then,” his son asked.

“Why is your face so stupid,” Sanji returned, passing him his milk. Sapphire started giggling.

“Everyone tells me I look like you, though.”

“Savage, why don’t children respect their fathers,” Sanji sighed, not annoyed in the slightest. Had someone like Zoro been the one to say it they’d have been kicked, but coming from Cerulean’s angelic face it didn’t vex him as much.

“You always call your father a stupid old man,” Cerulean said.

“He is a stupid old man,” Sanji agreed. “But he’s probably the person I respect the most in the world, I owe him my life, and all my values.” He sometimes wondered how he’d have ended up, continuing to live at Germa 66. He knew he wouldn’t have ended up entirely like them, having kept his empathy while they were all stripped of it, but an environment like _that_  had to change a person, in the end.

It was Zeff who taught him to respect women, to never fight with your hands, to never waste food. It was Zeff who raised him. He didn’t suppose he’d ever said a nice word to his old man, but he was always at his happiest as a child when the chef was pleased with his work.

“Do you like him or do you not like him,” Sapphire asked, who liked things to be plain and clear, “Will we like him when we meet him, and Baratie?”

“He’s nice to kids,” Sanji reconsidered suddenly, “Nicer to kids, that is. He kicked me slightly less when I was younger. You’ll love Baratie, though,” his eyes lit up, like they did when he spoke of the All Blue, or something else that he loved, the lit up eyes that Clara had been so drawn to, “It’s a massive boat, several boats now, all one restaurant! He kept the original boat, so I can show you around it, it was where I was raised! Did you know I actually never set foot on real earth until I was sixteen?”

“What?” Cerulean breathed, “How?”

“I was born on a giant boat nation, and never left until I was eight when I boarded a cruise ship, and then ended up on a rock for a few months and then on Baratie! One summer my old man decided I might as well see a squirrel in real life and we went to an island. It was crazy, I’d never seen so many real trees in one place!”

“Imagine never seeing a real tree until you were sixteen,” Sapphire’s mouth was wide open.

“I saw sea kings before I saw squirrels,” Sanji was laughing, “What a life. Once I joined Luffy’s crew I saw all sorts of things, though. Zoro thought I was a crazy idiot, not knowing what a hedgehog was.”

_“The fuck is that spiky thing?” The blonde cook pointed at what he’d seen, “Is it a strange nut?”_

_Zoro turned slowly to look at him, then at the spiky ball, then back at Sanji. “Seriously?”_

_Sanji started at it intently, he’d never seen one of these in the few trips he’d been taken on to land, or since joing Luffy’s crew. He wondered how it tasted, and was just about to reach and touch it when the thing unravelled, a small snout poked out and it walked off._

_He screeched and took a step back. “WHAT JUST HAPPENED? THAT WAS AN ANIMAL?” He paused thoughtfully, “How do they taste?”_

“You can’t eat hedgehogs!” Sapphire gasped, “They’re too cute!”

“That’s what Luffy and Usopp told me,” Sanji agreed, “Don’t bring this up to Zoro, he made fun of me for it for months.”

“Did Zeff never mention them to you, or read you books with them in them?” Sapphire asked, having a very clear view of what parents and children did together.

“He never read to me,” Sanji was laughing, “Wow! Imagine Zeff reading to me.” He was laughing hysterically now. “M-me tucked in bed, a-and him r-reading TO ME!”

Cerulean and Sapphire had deadpan expressions. “That’s kinda sad, Papa.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, stopping, “My mother used to read to me, though, before she died.”

“So what did you and Zeff do together, if he didn’t do dad things with you,” Cerulean asked, intent to know more about his grandpa. Well, not his biological grandpa but the one that mattered, as Sanji said. He’d never met any grandparents of his before. Chloe was dead, Peter missing and he didn’t even know who Sanji’s parents were until very recently. Sanji’s mother was dead too, and his biological father a very unspoken about topic, but they were on their way to meet Zeff now, who actually raised Sanji!

“He taught me to cook, taught me some life lessons, taught me to fight,” Sanji paused to consider, “We gossiped sometimes. And if he was in the mood we’d fish and he’d tell me about his pirate days.”

“Do you like him,” Sapphire asked, “Don’t say, ‘no he’s a dumb old man’, do you care about him?”

“Of course, I care about him,” Sanji had cared about him enough to go along with a wedding to try and protect him, “He raised me. I care about his opinion more than anyone’s, oh beside Nami and Robin’s.” The twins rolled their eyes. “It’s just we don’t have the kind of relationship where we say nice things to each other. The only nice things I ever said to him were as I was leaving to join Luffy’s crew.”

Finally satisfied, Sapphire nodded. Cerulean sneezed loudly. He perked up as Zoro wandered in.

“Dad! I’m ill!”

“Yeah I heard,” Zoro rolled his shoulders, “Sucks, man.”

“Sanji was telling me stories, it’s your turn,” Cerulean demanded, “What’s the more hardcore, scary thing you’ve ever done?”

“I punched a sky shark once,” he said.

“Lame.”

“I married Sanji.”

It was always impressive how the cook could go from stationary and sitting to standing and kicking then back to sitting in such a short space of time.

Witnessing this, Cerulean nodded. “That  _is_  pretty hardcore.”

* * *

 

The cold itself wasn’t too hardcore, and after a week of sneezing and confinement to the medical bay, Cerulean was released. His sister felt slightly bitter, because her colds lasted a month at least.

Sanji was glad, because his son was demanding more and more terrifying stories, and he was on the verge of recruiting Usopp to make some things up. He didn’t  _really_ want to delve into his far past, at Germa, at least not until the twins were a little older.

Days melted into weeks, as they did on the Grand Line, and each week took them closer to the East Blue. Sanji had given in and called Zeff.

“This is Redleg Zeff of Baratie, how may I help you?”

“It’s me, you old fart.”

“And what the heck do you want, you little shit?”

“I’m coming to visit, bastard.”

“Oh God save us, why?”

“I said I’d come back some day, didn’t I?! Anyway you need to meet my kids.”

“Your kids, what damned kids, dumbass?”

“My kids I had two kids their mother’s dead, they’re coming with us.”

“I though you married the stupid green swordsman.”

“I did I had the kids before then.”

“Why did you never fucking tell me, you shitty eggplant?”

“I didn’t know about them until recently.”

“Oh you scumbag, what have I TOLD YOU ABOUT RESPECTING WOMEN?!”

“I RESPECTED THE FUCK OUT OF HER!”

“THEN WHY DID SHE HAVE YOUR KIDS OUT OF WEDLOCK!”

“THIS ISN’T THE FUCKING STONEAGE!”

“I’M GOING TO KICK YOU HARD WHEN YOU GET HERE!”

“IF YOU CAN CATCH ME, OLD MAN!”

“I’LL PREPARE THE GUEST ROOM FOR THE KIDS TOO!”

“THANK YOU!” He hung up, and turned to his shaken children. “He’s preparing the guest room for you, be honoured. I wasn’t given the guest room in all my years at that damn place.”

He left the room humming as though he hadn’t just been screaming profanities at the nearest thing he had to a father.

“Do they always talk to each other like that?” Cerulean asked Zoro.

“That was them being nice,” he said.

Sanji was looking forward to going home, even to seeing Patty and Carne again. He couldn’t wait to show everyone how strong he’d gotten, he could beat any of them up now! And to see his friends after all these years. And Zeff.

To tell the truth he was almost longing to see the old man to who he owed his life. He wanted more than anything for him to be proud of all he had achieved, and to like his kids too!

He had to like Cerulean, he was chatty, talked back confidently and could cook.

Zeff was chivalrous to all women, and actually kind to little girls. It was only Rulie he’d need to teach to defend himself against those peg leg kicks. Sapphy liked baking, which of course Zeff could do, as head chef of a world class restaurant. Baratie was huge now, from what he’d heard, with several vessels instead of the one.

(He also knew that one of them had his first wanted poster face as the figurehead but he decided to steer his children as far away from that one as possible).

When they finally crossed into the East Blue (Sapphy and Rulie shrieking in joy as they passed Reverse Mountain) Sanji started itching in excitement.

Robin mentioned to Nami how she strongly reminded of Cerulean’s reaction has they journeyed closer to Periwinkle island.

Cerulean found himself infected with Sanji’s excitement, following him when he went to the helm, skipping about on deck at the prospect of meeting a grandparent for the first time. (He had Granny, but she was a  _great_ -grandmother, of course). He supposed this might be his only opportunity to meet a grandparent too. Both grandma’s dead, one biological grandpa missing possible forever and the other biological grandparent estranged beyond all meaning of the word.

But Zeff was a grandpa, he decided, because Sanji had referred to him as “my dad” before at a slip of the tongue, and when one of them asked about his father, he’d respond talking about Zeff easily, though would sometimes remind them he had just raised him, they weren’t related.

“You do like him,” Sapphire was pleased to report to Sanji, “You’re excited to see him.”

“I couldn’t care less about him,” Sanji huffed.

Nami called over to them from the helm, “Sanjiii! Land ahoy, Baratie ahead!”

The man leapt to his feet and scrambled to the front of the ship.

Sure enough, there it was, in huge letters.

**BARATIE**

“Owner Zeff!” he started yelling, “OWNER ZEFF!”

A door opened and a tall man with a ridiculously long hat stepped out.

“STUPID EGGPLANT!”

“DUMB OLD MAN!”

Both were crying tears of joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for bearing with me this far and reading this! Will probs start writing more from Sanji's POV, but next chapter is flashback to zosan getting together probs
> 
> Thanks again for all kudos and comments over the last month of me writing this!  
> Also comment any errors I made so I can correct them this is un-beta'd


	11. Babe (Zosan flashback)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashback about how Zoro and Sanji got together. It is set a little while after Sanji and Clara met

“Here, Zoro.” A damp plate was passed from a blonde cook to a green haired swordsman.

“Mm.” There was a mumble in return and the plate was duly wiped dry.

“Here, Zoro.” Another plate passed.

“Mm.”

“Zoro, here.”

“Mm.”

“Zoro.”

“Mm.”

“Zoooro.”

“Mm.”

“Zoro, babe.”

The plate fell to the floor and cracked and Sanji started cackling loudly.

“What the hell, cook!” Zoro yelled, cheeks gone red. They did this every time Sanji mocked him, but they were flushed for another reason too right now.

“Don’t worry yourself, mossy, I was just checking if you were listening,” Sanji hummed, bending down to pick up the broken pieces of plate. “It was a cracked plate, I was gonna throw it out anyway.” He started giggling again. “That was a better reaction than I was hoping for, though.”

Zoro glared at him irritably, tricked, and said nothing. Sanji wasn’t bothered, in the few years he had known Zoro he knew his anger rarely lasted, especially over teasing. Their whole relationship was just them making fun of each other and fighting anyway, wasn’t it? They were Zoro and Sanji, great rivals of the Straw-hat crew. But these days, he thought, they were almost friends to the extent that he could call him “babe” ( _jokingly_ ) without feeling embarrassed.

His nakama’s stance remained stiff. There were days when he’d relish in Zoro’s discomfort, but three years into being in the crew together and their relationship _had_ somewhat softened so that Sanji decided to smooth things over. He decided to not mention the plate/babe mishap again and go back to what they were doing before.

“Heeeere, Zoro,” he passed a damp plate.

“Yeah.”

For some reason, the swordsman was still being a little cold about it and Sanji frowned. On a normal day when Zoro was mad at him it was fine, because he’d probably kicked him or insulted him. Right now, it felt a little different. Usually he loved making Zoro feel uncomfortable, but he knew Zoro well enough to understand him and read him and decided to take a different course of action this time. (Gross, when did this start. Years ago, he realised).

“I’m sorry for laughing at you,” he nudged Zoro’s shoulder, “Stop being grumpy or you’ll ruin our dish washing bonding time. We’ll have to schedule in another bit of hand to hand combat to make up for it tomorrow.” He wondered if it was the laughing Zoro was being cold over, or being tricked into dropping the plate.

 ~~Zoro was thinking about how “Babe” sounded coming from Sanji’s mouth, and how his giggle sounded afterwards~~.

“It’s fine, babe,” Zoro cracked a smirk suddenly.

A foot swung round, but expecting it he ducked, giving his own cackle.

“Don’t make this a thing bastard, I can’t let Nami think my affections have wavered,” Sanji huffed, but the secret pleasant rush of adrenaline he got from a fight (teasing or not) with Zoro stopped him feeling any real annoyance.

Wait, what.

Zoro had literally just called him babe, and Sanji was too happy about conversing with him to care. Three years ago, he’d have been furious. Christ, they really were friends, weren’t they?

No, they were literally antagonising each other, Sanji had called him babe to annoy him, Zoro had retaliated, and Sanji was just getting adrenaline from the possibility of a fight. He had been mocking, not teasing, as he spoke about their bonding time.

They didn’t need bonding time, they were worst enemies! Rivals!

Zoro’s laughter broke him out of his downward spiral. It was a nice laugh really. Maybe “friends” wasn’t so bad.

The next morning Zoro called his breakfast crap, and Sanji saw nothing but red as they battled outside on deck, all thoughts of friendship forgotten.

That evening when Zoro helped him do the dishes they were laughing again, all thoughts of battle forgotten. Maybe _this_ was their relationship, it just didn’t have a name.

* * *

 

The term “Zoro and Sanji” was common vocabulary on the Thousand Sunny, for many reasons. The two just tended to be associated with each other. At first it was because of their constant fighting.

“What was that noise?”

“Zoro and Sanji fighting again.”

Or

“Someone tell Zoro and Sanji to stop shouting at each other and start working.”

Or

“Zoro and Sanji are squabbling, let me go stop them.”

Then as the crew started to gel and get into the swing of things, it was because of how their fighting styles meshed together, and in a fight they two were the backdrop of Monster Trio behind Luffy. They three protected the crew, fighting the worst adversaries. Luffy would charge off, and it was Zoro and Sanji together behind him.

They were the two that Nami called when she needed a combat job done that she didn’t trust their frivolous captain to do. They were the two that were near unstoppable when they decided to fight together for once, like back during the Davy Back fight.

Then what started happening was the two began to gravitate towards each other. Zoro found he liked the peace of the kitchen, but had to pay his way in by helping Sanji out with the dishes. This task was fairly easy, and he on occasion received treats such as being referred to as “babe”. Sanji never even called Nami or Robin that.

They were closest to each other in age, both nineteen when they met three years earlier and Zoro five months older. This meant neither were particular amused by the antics that kept Luffy, Usopp and Chopper so entertained (not that they didn’t like to join in sometimes, it was just that seeing who could hold the most golf balls in their mouth at once didn’t seem like their idea of a good time. Especially as it was obvious Luffy would win).

So, as it happened, on occasion things would happen like this: Luffy and Chopper would be entertaining each other with their weird dance-play routine, Brook providing the music, Franky and Usopp are downstairs tinkering in their offices, and the girls are sunbathing. This leaves Zoro and Sanji to either do their own thing (one in the kitchen, one working out in the crow’s nest) or if nothing else to do, gravitate towards each other and end up hanging out or fighting.

Maybe it was also due to their age, but they seemed to understand each other better than anyone else too, knowing what the other was thinking and their reasoning behind decisions better than anyone else. They both maintained that the other was an idiot of course, when one of them did something stupid that the other couldn’t comprehend.

Sanji smoked death sticks.

Zoro consumed copious amounts of sake.

Sanji became the undying slave of every girl he came across.

Zoro would get lost on a straight path.

Yes, they both thought the other was an insufferable idiot in this way, but at the same time it was Zoro who sensed when Sanji was upset and why, and Sanji who knew how to pull on every one of Zoro’s strings. It was how Sanji knew the exact time Zoro would wonder into the kitchen asking for a drink, and how Zoro knew when to avoid the kitchen because Sanji was deep in prep work and would kill anyone that interrupted his chopping and slicing routine.

The almost-friendship blooming between them was probably based on this bond they had. Zoro and Sanji.

“Zoro and Sanji went shopping,” Nami said to Luffy when he was looking for his best spar buddies. Sighing, he trounced off to try and probe Chopper into a wrestling match instead.

Zoro and Sanji had gone shopping. They had landed on an island and Sanji needed a pack mule to help carry groceries, so the swordsman was hired (for free) and taken into the most promising looking village. He wondered if he would come into the company of any nice ladies, like at that island a little while ago. Lovely Clara, he thought.

“Stop pulling that face, we haven’t even seen any women yet,” Zoro snapped at him, well familiar with the expression crossing Sanji’s face.

“I was _thinking_ of a lovely woman,” Sanji snapped back. Ah, to be in that lady’s warm company again, instead of this beefy marimo-cake.

“Any particular one?”

“The one from Periwinkle, if you must know,” for some reason Sanji wanted to defend himself, he didn’t want Zoro thinking he was just musing about some faceless lady. Shit, why did he care if Zoro thought he was shallow or not?

Whatever reaction he was hoping for, he didn’t get any response from the swordsman, whose face had that funny expression he had seen as they sailed away from Periwinkle.

Zoro was being reminded of how definitely straight Sanji was. But who cared, that had always been the case. And they’d sailed far away now, he and the woman from Periwinkle would never meet again, she’d probably already forgotten about him. (A few months pregnant, she definitely hadn’t).

This was how every conversation between Sanji and himself went, he reminded himself, petty arguments. There were times like when they were washing dishes that it felt different, but he knew it always came back round to this. 

But there was something about the cook, and the way he treated him in his nice moments, that made Zoro wish they didn’t.

“Zoroo,” he heard Sanji call, and realised he had veered in the opposite direction.

“The path moved,” he explained, jogging to catch up. He wouldn’t admit it out loud but Sanji was usually on the correct path to wherever they were going.

“Ah, that darn path,” Sanji said cheerfully, no scathing comment like Zoro was expecting. “Well I’ll keep an eye on it from here on to make sure it doesn’t move. The town is just up ahead, it probably has a substantial market by the size of it.”

Sanji had been nicer to him lately, apologising for making fun of him earlier that week, and now not making fun of his directionless ways directly, only backhandedly.

“Then it will have the nutmeg you wanted,” Zoro said.

“The nutmeg?”

“Yeah,” Zoro frowned in annoyance, “You were complaining you were out of it a few weeks ago.”

Sanji stared at him, softly, “I didn’t know you listened.”

“I listen to you,” Zoro grumbled, “It doesn’t matter, there’ll be nutmeg and that’s what you want.”

“Yeah,” Sanji nodded, “That’s what I want.” And then he smiled at him, that genuine, bright one with the squinty eyes and teeth, and Zoro realised he wanted to give Sanji whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it.

As they ventured into town there was a pleasant vibe between them, one that only usually emerged when they were alone together late at night, or when they both found something funny and laughed together.

The nutmeg was found, and when Sanji bought it he winked at Zoro (Zoro’s heart stopped) and tossed it into the basket.

They passed into the town, and Sanji immediately followed the scent of something delicious coming from a stall.

“Delicious!” he said, something he could tell without tasting, “What are these?”

“They’re a type of special pork bun from around these parts,” the old lady behind the stall told him with a gummy grin, “You won’t find any better ones than from here!”

“Ah, wonderful,” Sanji was about to reach for his wallet when he remembered he had taken his eye off of Zoro, who must have wondered off by now. Turning, he almost jumped to see the swordsman standing behind him, with his usual little frown on his face, not having run off. (It wasn’t his angry or annoyed frown, it was the one he had when he was thinking about something).

“I’ll get two,” Zoro said, handing her some coins.

“Hungry today, matcha-mochi,” Sanji grinned. It slipped off his face when Zoro handed one to him.

“One’s for you, dumbass.”

“Oh,” he took it, oddly touched, “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Zoro turned to walk away, “Like literally, I don’t want Luffy thinking I’ll buy him food.”

The grin returned to Sanji’s face and he skipped after him, “So I’m special then, marimo?”

“No!”

Sanji smiled wider and took a bite, “Mmm, this is good. I might go back and see if I can wheedle the recipe off her.”

“You said once local vendors never give away their secrets.”

“You really do listen!” Sanji laughed, “And yet you can’t follow directions to save your life.”

The pleasant feeling in Zoro’s stomach was promptly removed with this remark, so he shot back, “And you can’t get a woman to save your life.”

The cook’s face darkened, “Don’t refer to ladies as objects! And I got one at the last island, remember?”

“Yeah you won’t shut up about it.”

“Hey, fu-,”

Sanji’s profanity was cut across by a person at another stall. “Excuse me, did I hear that one of you had problems with women?”

“He has many problems, not necessarily with women,” Zoro said, not quite dodging the kick aimed his way.

“I _do_ have many problems and you. Are. All. Of. Them,” he aimed a new kick with each word, and Zoro unsheathed his swords to counter them.

“WELL,” the woman at the stall raised her voice to catch their attention again, “May I suggest this Beauty Mist- it makes you appear up to four times as beautiful to your preferred sex!”

“Really?” Sanji was interested suddenly, “Aren’t I handsome enough already?”

Sanji _was_ handsome, to be fair, Zoro thought. Stupidly handsome, really.

“Ah, but _four times_ as handsome, imagine the power,” she purred. “5000 Beri for a bottle.”

 _We’re being conned_ , Zoro realised. “He’s too ugly, it’s a lost cause,” he said to catch the cook’s attention, which he got in a whirlwind of a fury. He subtly guided the fight away from the woman’s “Beauty mist” stall.

They were still squabbling ten minutes later, but it was a friendlier type of squabble by now. Sanji was still annoyed though, saying, “What the hell did you _mean_ I’m a lost cause?”

“You know, 0 x 4 is still 0,” Zoro shrugged.

“I’m surprised you even know that,” Sanji said, but the kicking he’d done in the past ten minutes had gotten him over his anger. He plucked his shopping list from his breast pocket, “We still need to get groceries, and Nami’s scented candles.”

Zoro knew for a fact she wasn’t planning on paying Sanji back for them. “Great. Judging by the smell of that stall we’d better go over there.”

Sanji gave him a thumbs up (only half mocking) and strolled over. “Nami likes orange scented, and rose for evenings,” he considered it, “I’ll get her both.” Zoro gave him a thumbs up, fully mocking. Sanji stuck his tongue out at him and paid for the candles, before something else caught his eye. He picked the object of interest and asked the salesperson,

“What’s this?” He flicked it open, it was a pocket mirror, silver and intricately designed. Pearls and blue gems adorned it. Even Zoro, who didn’t care much for physical possessions, had to admit it was attractive.

“A handmade and painted pocket mirror, I’ll give it you half price for buying all the candles.”

Sanji’s eyes brightened, “Thank you so much, good sir!” He paid for it eagerly and turned to show Zoro. “What do you think?”

“Aren’t mirrors a girl’s thing?”

The wrong thing to say, Sanji’s eyes narrowed and his happy expression evaporated. “Oh no, I didn’t realise only women were meant to use mirrors. And all this time I’ve been a fool to use them to look at myself in. Men are just meant to imagine what they look like. How embarrassing.”

He turned on his heel dramatically and stormed off.

Zoro realised he’d made a mistake, and it occurred to him it had actually been spectacularly friendly of Sanji to show him what he’d just bought. “Sanjiii, wait up, mirrors aren’t just for girls, I know that.”

“Hmph,” was the reply.

“I actually thought it was cool myself.”

“Sure.”

“Come on man, I’m sorry what do you want from me?”

A pause, a look up and down from Sanji, and then, “Another one of those pork buns.”

So easy? “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Done.”

It really was this easy, these days, Zoro realised, to make up. Not just hold grudges and fight it out like how they’d done for so long. So why hadn’t they decided to be friends earlier?

* * *

 

“Sanji-kunnn, did you get my scented candles?” Nami called, walking over to greet them with her manipulate-Sanji facial expression on as they returned to the ship.

“Yesss, Nami-san,” Sanji spun to meet her, gazing at her adoringly, “Don’t worry about paying me back, they’re on me.”

“Aww, really?” she snatched them without waiting for an answer.

“I only want your warm regard as payment!”

“Well you have it,” and then she sashayed off to the bathroom to light them while bathing.

Sanji sighed. “Such a lovely flower.”

“She was entirely taking advantage of you,” said Zoro.

“Nami wouldn’t do a thing like that,” came the defensive reply, “Take the groceries into the storeroom for me.”

Luffy followed them into the galley hoping for a snack but got a kick in the head in its place. “What’s the rule, Luffy?”

The captain recited wallowingly, “No snacks until Sanji unpacks.”

“Good boy,” in a giving mood, Sanji threw him in an apple. Luffy caught it in his mouth and grinned as he flounced away to go play again. Sanji walked into the storeroom where Zoro had deposited the sack of supplies.

“Am I done here?” Zoro asked, bored of shopping.

“One more thing,” Sanji said, and Zoro’s shoulders slumped. Sanji’s reached into the sack and tossed him a bottle of expensive sake, Zoro’s favourite he knew.

“Huh?”

“For you, marimo-brain,” Sanji raised his eyebrows, “Unless you don’t want it.”

“Fuck that,” Zoro had already uncapped it, “What do I owe you?”

“Nothing, jackass, I just felt like buying it for you.”

Zoro processed this for a moment, then said, “So you don’t even want my warm regard?”

A flash of white hot anger seared through Sanji and manifested in him aiming a savage kick to Zoro’s head. “I only want ladies’ warm regard!”

“Too late.”

“Take it back! Take it back!” Sanji shrieked.

Zoro laughed as he ran out and away from flaming legs, “Too late, cook! My warm regard is all yours!”

* * *

 

And so continued the strange relationship between the swordsman and the cook. Best friends one moment, worst enemies the next and underlying it all a mysterious attraction. The rest of the crew had clued into it now, the friendlier conversations, the near _flirting_. The ladies were gossiping about it as they sunbathed (the weather had taken a warm turn).

“Do you think there’s something going on between Zoro and Sanji-kun?” Nami asked Robin.

“I think something’s been going on there since before I even joined the crew.”

“Really?” Nami sat up, “I only noticed recently they spend all their time together. _And_ they shared that look at dinner yesterday, when I mentioned he’d bought more nutmeg.”

“I suppose we never really discuss,” Robin paused then continued, “Sexual orientations, aboard this ship, do we?” They didn’t, no one was sure whether Luffy even had a sexual orientation.

Nami gasped, “Do you think that’s what’s going on? But Sanji’s so…”

“Lady prone,” Robin agreed.

“Wow, for so long I thought they despised each other.”

“I don’t think anything’s happened just yet,” the older woman hummed, “But their regard to each other has certainly shifted.”

Indeed, it had shifted, as Sanji found himself placed firmly in Zoro’s warm regard. And he also found he didn’t mind it. He still wasn’t sure what it was, but lately he just felt like doing nicer things for Zoro, like buying him sake, and trying to improve the mood when he’d annoyed him. He was enjoying Zoro’s company more and more these days, he’d once even sought his attention instead of his ladies’ when he found his afternoon free.

Well today they wouldn’t be so neglected! Sanji poured two glasses of lemonade and went to serve them to his lovely flowers. He swept out of the kitchen and onto the deck, knowing the girls would be out there in the sun. What he hadn’t been expecting was a shirtless marimo outside too, lifting his weights in the open air instead of in the crow nest.

It wasn’t a sight he saw often unless he went up there. Those biceps, chiselled abs, tanned skin glistening slightly in the heat. Face intense with concentration, muscles rippling as he worked them. Honestly Sanji could just-

“Sanji-kun! Are those drinks for us?”

Nami! He’d forgotten all about his favourite flower! Tearing his eyes away from Zoro (crap he must have been staring for an embarrassing length of time) he flew over to them and bowed as he offered the tray, saying, “Of course, Nami! I made them especially for you and Z-,” _what the fuck_ , “-you and Robin!”

“ _Zrobin_ and I appreciate it,” Nami’s smiled deviously as she sipped her lemonade. Sanji’s smile became very strained.

“Ha ha well you’re welcome my lovely, call me if you need anything else,” he said quickly, and ran.

The galley door slammed behind him and Nami and Robin burst into laughter.

“He’s not even being subtle,” Nami grinned, “Blackleg Sanji, bisexual extraordinaire, who knew?”

“Our swordsman has yet to notice,” Robin said, glancing at where Zoro was concentrating as hard on his weights before, unaware of his brief one-man audience. “Going by the way he stares at cook, it seems the affection is mutual.”

* * *

 

Sanji, in the kitchen, was trying and failing to convince himself such affection was _not_ mutual, on his part at least. He definitely wasn’t attracted to the shitty swordsman; his hair was _green_. And he was too muscular, and the scar completely ruined his complexion. It didn’t make him look rugged and distinguished and kissable-

D e f i n i t e l y n o t k i s s a b l e.

Desperate to distract himself he wondered if the ladies would want a dessert. No, lunch was too soon, and they hadn’t finished the ice creams he’d made them yet. The boys? When did they not want a snack, but Sanji made a point to serve ladies first and the men as an afterthought. His hands were itching to do something though ~~like run through Zoro’s hair~~ so he thought _screw it_ and whipped up some churros. He burst out of the galley and looking pointedly away from Zoro yelled, “SNACKS, LOSERS!”

The stampede was immediate, and the captain was held off with a foot after he grabbed his first handful to give the others a chance to get at them. Nami and Robin called no thank you’s, then went back to their hushed whispering and glancing at Sanji.

Usually he adored being talked about by his angels, the honour of it, but today he felt like it wasn’t something particularly favourable about him. Still, he at least got the glow of happiness in his heart from his nakama enjoying their food and munching it happily. The glow ebbed slightly when Zoro ambled over.

“Leave something for me,” he said, swatting at Luffy’s hand which was trying it’s hardest to claim the last few churros, and suddenly his shirtless body was very close to Sanji’s.

Sanji tried his best not to let his eyes wonder back down to Zoro’s chest or arms, instead they flickered to his face. Ah yes, he looked stupid trying to chew on three churros at once. Much better.

Not it wasn’t. He looked fucking cute.

“Fwanks,” Zoro said through his food.

Sanji whacked him over the head with the plate and screamed, “DON’T TALK WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL!” and stormed away, leaving his crew bewildered.

“Talk about mood swings,” Zoro murmured simply, rubbing his sore head. It was strange, Sanji had been staring at him in an almost soft manner before assaulting him.

“Sanji’s mating ritual is very different with men to women,” Robin remarked quietly.

The days continued, as did Sanji’s new strange behaviour. He’d be nice as pie to Zoro one moment, giving him that bright smile, then the next he’d snap and needed to take ten minutes alone in the storeroom. This was also odd, as usually when he was mad he’d just start a fight and everything could be resolved.

It was really strange things that made him turn on Zoro, too.

One time, he had simply bent down to pick up Sanji’s watch which he’d dropped. Another time, he’d just smiled at him. The blonde had been baking more too, stress baking it seemed like. Luffy had never been happier. It baffled Zoro, because he wasn’t sure if he’d done anything wrong, in any case their friendship or whatever it was had improved drastically lately. He decided a confrontation was in order to find out why Sanji was so jumpy with him lately.

He entered the galley one morning when he knew it would just be Sanji alone in the kitchen. The cook sensed him at once and said, “You’re up early.”

“Yeah, I am.” _The things I do for this cook_ , he thought. It was quarter to six in the morning, disgusting.

“Any reason, marimo,” Sanji was chopping parsley has he spoke, in those swift motions too fast for the eye to see. Sometimes Zoro was glad he’d never taken up sword fighting.

He walked into the kitchen area, “Yeah, you’ve been mad at me lately for no reason.”

“No I haven’t,” he started chopping the parsley quicker.

“Yesterday I patted your shoulder and you stormed off as though I’d insulted you!”

(It had sent tingles and pleasant confusing emotions through Sanji that he wasn’t quite ready to face or think over in public, thus he made a getaway).

“No,” Sanji denied, the parsley being minced.

A burst of anger shot through Zoro, “Stop lying!” He brought his fist down on the counter without thinking. He heard a smash and a crunch under his fist. Sanji’s eyes had turned very dark, and almost disappointed, like _look what you’ve done_.

Zoro looked down, and saw under his hand when he lifted it the pocket mirror Sanji had bought that he’d liked so much. “Shit, sorry-,”

“Just fuck off,” Sanji’s voice was dead and monotone, not even angry. He threw the broken mirror into the bin and locked himself into the storeroom.

That fucking swordsman. First, he had to confuse Sanji with his stupid face and smile and laugh, and now he has the audacity to be annoyed at _Sanji_ and also break his mirror! He liked that mirror! Okay, Sanji was very possibly slightly in the wrong for going hot and cold on Zoro and then denying it. But Zoro _had_ now broken his mirror, which he had been very pleased with! Robin had even complimented it!

He left the storeroom to find the galley empty, all traces of the swordsman gone. He wondered absently if he’d hurt his feelings, but with food to prep got back to his parsley. He had accidentally chopped it into a paste. Sighing, he scraped it into the bin. Had he looked more carefully, he’d have seen that the broken mirror he had thrown away was no longer in it.

* * *

 

Sanji was getting bored of being talked about. Robin and Nami were still at it, and now Franky and Brook had joined their conversations too. Usopp kept looking at him, and then back to Zoro, but separate from the others.

Zoro wasn’t talking to Sanji, so Sanji decided not to talk to Zoro. The two didn’t look at each other all through dinner, providing food for gossip right into the crews’ bellies. After dinner Zoro left quickly with Usopp.

 _I guess I’m doing the dishes alone_ Sanji thought morosely. _Shitty swordsman_.

It was so dumb, he used to do the dishes by himself all the time. And he used to be on non-talking terms with Zoro most of the time without being bothered at all. Now, after less than a year of being civil to each other and then becoming sort of friends, he was already feeling kind of lame.

He finished the dishes alone, and then the galley door opened. Zoro walked in, with a guarded expression, not catching Sanji’s eye.

“Zoro?” Sanji asked, puzzled. He walked to meet him.

The swordsman thrust a package towards him and then looked away awkwardly, cheeks flushed. Sanji looked down at it and carefully tore off the paper.

Inside was his mirror, cracked but put back together painstakingly.

“I got Usopp to mend it,” Zoro was still looking away.

Sanji stared at him, at a loss for words, heart hammering and breathless. “Thank you,” he said, voice gentle, “I mean it.” At the softness of his words Zoro finally looked at him, and then looked taken aback at the touched look on Sanji’s face.

“I just felt bad,” he said quietly, eyes locked with Sanji’s, transfixed.

“No, I feel bad,” Sanji said hurriedly, “You’re right I’ve been a dick lately. I’ve just had a lot on my mind you weren’t doing anything wrong.”

Zoro seemed as lost as he was, “I- good. I’m glad we’re, you know.”

“Yeah, me too.”

They stared at each other for a moment more, neither knowing if they should say anything more, or do anything, or just keep staring deeply into each other’s eyes. Both were aware something had changed, and both liked it. Zoro broke the silence. “Do you want to come have a drink with me, in the orange grove?”

“Yeah,” Sanji nodded, “Sure.”

So, they sat alone together under the rustling orange trees, drinking straight from their bottles as the ship sailed through the night. They were technically on watch, but the seas were empty around them with no trace of danger, and the deck was just as solitary. Wisps of clouds passed over the stars, but the night sky remained brilliant with them. They were talking, not about anything in particular, but they talked for a long time.

As both got slightly tipsy they’re conversations started getting deeper.

“Come on man, you’ve gotta answer.”

“No way,” Zoro was shaking his head resolutely, “Nuh uh.”

“Don’t be a bitch, would you rather fuck Luffy or Franky?”

“Naaaah, man,” Zoro still refused to answer, “I don’t even wanna think of Luffy that way, and Franky is like all metal how could I even.”

“Okay, Franky or Brook?”

“Noooooooo,” Zoro waved his had dismissively, “Whatever shit you’re into, I want no part of it.”

“Are you saying I wanna fuck cyborgs and skeletons,” Sanji challenged.

“Shit, Sanj, I’m not here to judge.”

“Okay, okay, okay, shut up,” Sanji decided to ask a new question, “You need to answer this one!” He pointed a serious finger at Zoro. “Do you actually think I’m a zero?”

“Eh?”

“You said 0 x 4 is still 0,” Sanji reminded him, “I’m many things but a zero is not one of them!”

“Are you still thinking about that?” Zoro said in disbelief, “I was just trying to piss you off.”

Nodding as though he knew this already, Sanji said, “Yeah, not be arrogant but I’m at least a seven.”

Tipsiness clouding Zoro’s judgement, he said, “You’re like a ten, cook.”

Sanji stopped in shock immediately. “What?”

“You look in the mirror enough you must know it,” Zoro decided he might as well go all out, “You use that dumb silver one you bought enough.”

“You think I’m attractive though?”

“Well, yeah.”

Sanji wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that, but his mind had a sudden influx of information he finally felt ready to process. They had been spending more and more amicable time together. In those amicable moments, they kept flirting. _My warm regard is all yours. Buy me another pork bun. Zoro, babe. It’s fine, babe._ The two spent most of their time together. He couldn’t stop staring at Zoro’s chest.

He thought Zoro’s face was cute. He thought Zoro’s face was kissable.

Zoro’s face was pretty kissable.

So Sanji shuffled forward in between Zoro’s outstretched legs and kissed it. Zoro’s lips were soft under his, his face warm and lovely and his mouth hot and wet when he opened it. Zoro’s hands moved to his hips and pulled him closer and Sanji found himself following willingly, placing his own hands on the swordsman’s shoulders.

In the back of his mind it occurred to him _wow I’m kissing Zoro who saw this coming_ but the front of his mind was solely focused on Zoro’s body against his and their mouths moving together, and Zoro’s soft hair under his hands now. It all felt so right how could he have felt like it was wrong to want Zoro? Right now, everything about wanting him seemed entirely natural.

Zoro broke away suddenly, flushed and with glossy lips, “I thought you like women?”

“I _prefer_ women,” Sanji clarified, quirking his eyebrow.

The swordsman took a moment to consider this. The substance of all his latest fantasies had just come true and he had a willing and pliant cook on his lap looking at him expectantly.

Zoro said, “So do you think _I’m_ attractive then?”

“You’re ugly as fuck, babe.”

“Thanks, babe,” he grinned, and they both surged forward so that their lips met again, more passionately this time, and Sanji thought that he definitely preferred Zoro in this moment.

* * *

 

The shift between them was immediate, and unmissable to their crew. The cook and the swordsman were suddenly attached at the hip, whispering to each other, smiling with giddy, happy smiles and sharing little touches in public. Sanji started running his hands through Zoro’s hair (now that he knew it was this soft how could he stop?). Zoro’s hands kept resting on Sanji’s hip, or gently stroked the inside of his wrist. It was all casual, like they barely realised they were doing it, but the crew had never had such juicy gossip.

“Why are Zoro and Sanji in such good moods lately?” Luffy asked one evening.

“They’re in their honeymoon phase,” Usopp explained.

Zoro never missed washing up time, because afterwards he always got a make out session. Sanji stopped going hot and cold and remained a steady, blissful warm; friendly and flirting to Zoro all day. Not only that, but while they washed their conversations changed too.

“Here, babe.” A damp plate was passed from a blonde cook to a green haired swordsman.

“Thanks, babe.”

They both sniggered. Their new relationship or whatever it was (the two had obviously not talked about it) was still funny to them too. Having once been such rivals, being close and amorous like this amused them.

“Last plate.”

“Sweet.”

He dried it swiftly, grabbed Sanji’s waist and pulled him close to him, kissing him hard. It still surprised him a little how quickly Sanji responded, throwing his arms around him and kissing back. Their bodies fit together like it was meant to be, and their mouths moved perfectly against each other.

Zoro lifted Sanji up, and the cook’s legs immediately wrapped around him. Those strong, powerful legs that had snapped so many necks, now clutching him as he lifted his blonde up and onto a counter, moving his mouth to kiss at Sanji’s neck.

“We’re not fucking in my kitchen,” Sanji whispered when he felt Zoro press closer.

“Why nottt,” Zoro whined against his neck.

“Because we aren’t! Fucking is restricted to crow’s nest only!”

Zoro sighed and settled for taking Sanji’s mouth for himself again, because to be honest sex at all was more than anything he’d imagined would ever happen between them. He teased his tongue into Sanji’s mouth, swallowing the soft moan that he got in return. He was just sliding his fingers under Sanji’s shirt-

The door swung open and the captain walked in. “Hey guys.”

They froze in horror, but he just yawned and strolled into the kitchen, got a glass of water and left again. “I’ll tell Nami she was right.”

The two remained frozen for a minute or two, before Zoro murmured quietly, “Fuck.”

“Probably,” Sanji whispered back.

The straw-hat pirates thus had their first ever couple. Well, a couple as in two people engaging in romantic activities, neither had tried instigate any kind of official thing. Nami decided it would be her mission to get more details, as she was thrilled that her intuition had been right.

She sidled up to him one afternoon when he was alone taking a smoke, “So, Sanji-kunn, how are things going with Zoro.”

He promptly choked on nothing and took a long drag from his cigarette, and said rapidly, “Fine, why do you ask?”

“Well, you two are dating now, huh?” she purred.

“Absolutely not,” Sanji said. Oh.

“You’re… not?”

“As if I would date plant life,” Sanji said, “We just enjoy each other’s physical company is all.”

 _The denial is strong within this one_. “Really, that’s all?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Sanji looked pleased with himself for coming to the conclusion.

“Hmm,” Nami remained non-committal, she turned to look back at the deck. Sanji followed her lead and looked over too. “Well that’s sure interesting.”

“My heart belongs entirely to you and Robin!”

“Great,” she yawned. How were they going to fix this? On deck, Zoro was sitting with Chopper helping him organise herbs. “He does look cute helping out Chopper thought, right?”

Sanji’s gaze grew soft and he said without thinking, “He’s cute whatever he does.” He realised his mistake and fear took over his face as Nami started laughing delightedly.

She was clapping her hands as she whooped, “Your heart doesn’t belong to us at all, honey!” Sanji didn’t look pleased with this remark, but he remained silent, no attempt to deny it, and took in another breath of smoke.

“We’re not dating,” he insisted one last time, and the navigator simply nodded as she strolled away, very content, to share her new information.

Meanwhile, Chopper was asking Zoro more innocently about the new couple. “Are you two mates now?”

“Depends what you mean by it,” he replied casually, in a moment where Sanji would have had an aneurism being asked such a question.

“It means you engage in intercourse.”

“We do that,” Zoro said, “But human relationships tend to be different to that.”

“What do you mean?”

Screwing a jar of poppy seeds closed Zoro said, “There are many types of ‘mates’ as you say. There’s friends with benefits, couples, committed couples and non-committed couples, open relationships, polyamory,” he listed.

“What are you two?”

Zoro stopped, realising he didn’t quite know. “We haven’t spoken about it. We’re not a… couple I don’t think.”

“What do couples do?”

“That means there are romantic feelings involved,” he said, “I guess the closest thing is, uh, friends with benefits?”

“You two are friends now?” Chopper asked happily, glad their time as adversaries was over, and not particularly baffled by the explanation of the types of human relationships.

Zoro, however, was increasingly baffled by this conversation. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“And there’s no romantic feelings involved,” Chopper finished, having gathered this from Zoro saying they weren’t a couple. He felt quite pleased with himself, it was like being a detective. Only Zoro didn’t seem very pleased with this.

For him, there was many a romantic feeling involved. But loud laughter drew his attention to the fact the blonde was talking with his precious Nami over by the railings. “None,” he lied.

To be fair, the Zoro and Sanji were pretty happy as things were. Romance was never high on Zoro’s list, and he considered it a bit of a waste of time, so really not being an official couple was ideal. Being just whatever they were meant he got to have Sanji, but not bother romancing him. He knew all Sanji wanted was attention and nice comments, like “you look nice in that shirt”, and he was happy. Quite a low maintenance lover, though quite easy to displease. (The only problem was that not being a couple meant that Sanji was technically free to go be someone else’s. That wasn’t ideal).

Sanji was fine with as things were too. He just liked the feeling of being in Zoro’s arms and being close to him. That didn’t mean he had to accept any romantic feelings. He didn’t _have_ any romantic feelings, the fuzziness in his heart when he was near Zoro was just attraction. No, there was no way he could have feelings for a green haired brute. The idea of them being boyfriends and official certainly didn’t make his heart flutter.

He belonged to women, after all, he was put on this earth to serve them!

The only reason his enthusiasm as he served Nami and Robin was a little more forced these days was because he must be ill. It wasn’t that he felt any less for them! He must just be a little stressed, that was why he couldn’t find his usual enthusiasm for them.

He knew it would be fixed soon. They’d gotten word there was a large party cruise ship nearby, which allowed pirate vessels to board it to have a good time. There would be so many pretty women there it would be impossible for Sanji to not feel his usual way.

_Would Zoro mind?_

Who cared if Zoro minded, they weren’t official, they didn’t _like_ like each other, they just liked each other now and liked kissing. It wasn’t a relationship or anything.

 _It’s kind of a relationship_.

Sanji mentally Diablo Jambe’d his conscience to make it shut up and got back to chopping apples for a pie Luffy had requested. The captain had been lectured by Chopper lately for eating a lack of fruit and vegetables, and Luffy decided the best way to rectify this was to eat lots of fruit desserts.

“Luffy, the sugar counteracts the good-,” Chopper tried to say.

“Fruit is healthy!” Luffy declared happily.

“Fruit has a lot of sugar in it, vegetables are also important-,”

“Sanji will make me lots of fruit pies!”

Eventually Chopper had to concede that something was better than nothing, but mentioned quietly to Sanji to slip more greens into Luffy’s food and stop letting him have so much sugar. Sanji was sterner than Chopper, a better enforcer. “I’ll stop letting you have so much too, then,” Sanji said teasingly.

Chopper looked horrified, “No, no my diet is fine!!”

“Hmm, but you do like your candy…”

“Sanjiii!”

The cook grinned at him and patted his head, “I’m only joking Chopper, I wouldn’t keep you away from your cotton candy sandwiches.”

The reindeer let out a puff of relief, then looked at him hopefully, “Could I have one now, it’s just that I’m not sure if they’ll have anything I want to eat on this cruise vessel…”

It would undoubtedly have all kinds of food, but the sandwiches were easy to make so Sanji rustled one up for him before going back to rolling out pastry. “Eat it quickly,” he told Chopper, “We’ll be there soon.” He could already hear the pulsing music.

* * *

 

The ship was huge, a proper cruise liner. It was a dark hot pink, with massive floor lights shining upwards. Each porthole had a different colour light beaming out of it, and the music was very, very loud. Luffy’s jaw had dropped in excitement.

“I hear it has twelve different all-you-can-eat buffets,” he was babbling to Usopp, “And karaoke!”

“SUPERRRRR!” Franky boomed, “Frrranky loves karaoke!”

“We must have a face off!” Brook gasped, “I’m sure I can out sing all of you!”

Usopp crossed his arms and smirked, “As if. I am the Great Usopp, the karaoke champion of the East Blue, after all. I will defeat all of you!”

“I don’t remember any karaoke championships being held in the East Blue,” Zoro said.

“Well, it was an underground sort of thing.”

“Hmm, there will be lots of ladies there too,” Nami said brightly, innocently but with a twinkle in her eye, “Just your sort of place, Sanji?”

 _She’s putting me on the spot with Zoro right there_ , Sanji realised. He did adore Nami but she had a heart of snakes when she was against you. Anyway, she was right, it was his sort of place! He and Zoro weren’t anything close to exclusive so why should he care what Zoro thought. The swordsman had hardly reacted anyway.

_That green haired bastard, how dare he not care?_

“Come on come on come on it’s time to board!” Luffy said, jumping up and down, “Will they mind if I just climb on?”

“You need to pay an entry fee, of course they will-,”

“GOMU GOMU NO-,”

“Not that you care,” Nami finished as Luffy rocketed up on board the ship. “I doubt we’ll see him again until the ship’s police call us about a rubber man in a food coma.”

Sanji actually saw his captain twice as he moved around the cruiser. He was certainly having a good time. The first time he was at the buffet, really stretching the limits of “all you can eat”. The staff looked pained as they watched him, and tourists starting taking pictures of him.

Next, he was in a karaoke room duetting with a man dressed as a frog in front of a screaming audience, and Usopp pouting in the background, probably having lost his crown as karaoke champion. Zoro had disappeared (probably to a bar, or to find a fight), Nami had gone to the gambling rooms with Chopper and Robin, and Brook had somehow managed to be hired as a singer in one of the nightclubs.

Sanji was left to do what he had come here to do. Find a woman. And yet, even as he saw skimpier and skimpier dressed women he couldn’t get his heart to pound as it usually did. He felt no drive to go and tell them how beautiful they were, and request their company.

 _The moss idiot had poisoned my mind_ , he thought, _He’s sent his spores into my brain to rewire it so that I can’t enjoy life anymore._

_You enjoy life when you’re with him, though_

_I barely tolerate him_

_That’s not how you felt last night_

Once again, a mental diablo jambe was required and duly dealt out. This was when his inner turmoil was disrupted by someone coming up to him.

A lady, an absolutely beautiful one, with smooth skin, a tiny dress and large breasts, biting her lip as she leant over him. “Are you alone?”

“Alone?” he asked, transfixed with her beauty.

“Yeah, you look all lonely here.”

Sanji guessed he did look a bit like a loser sitting by himself in a random bar. “I guess I am.” A bar, ha he must look like Zoro did when he went and drank alone. No, who cares about Zoro.

“Would you like me to keep you company?”

 _Yes,_ he was forcing himself to think, _I’d love for Z- what the fuck- this lady to keep me company. What the fuck._

“Actually, I’m waiting for someone.” _What the fuuuck._

“Too bad,” she winked at him and sauntered off.

_What is happening to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?_

A simply divine, ravishing woman had hit on _him_ and he’d lied and turned her down. The moss spores, the moss spores!

“Who was she?” and then the moss monster himself had materialised. He had changed shirt. He looked ridiculously good. _Bastard_.

“A random lady,” Sanji said honestly, taking a gulp of his drink.

Zoro was looking at him searchingly, “Did you just turn her down?”

“No,” Sanji snapped, “she was asking for the bathroom.” A lie, but he wouldn’t let Zoro know he was turning people down for him. Zoro accepted the lie though (he probably didn’t believe it) and took the seat next to Sanji.

“Found anyone you like yet?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“What?” Sanji’s head whipped to look at Zoro in surprise. He’d thought Zoro wanted their relationship just as not-exclusive as he did, but Zoro was looking at him intensely, with heavy lidded eyes.

“Good,” he repeated, and leant forward to murmur into Sanji’s ear, sending shivers down his spine, “I don’t like to share.”

Apparently Zoro wanted their relationship as not-exclusive as Sanji did. That was to say, not not-exclusive.

Walking down a corridor, Nami said to Robin, “I wonder if Sanji actually did go try and hit on girls.”

“It looks like somebody else got there sooner,” was the reply.

Just ahead of them, the cook and swordsman were making out against a wall.

* * *

 

“The topic of this meeting: Is it a relationship or not,” Usopp banged a hammer on the table. Seven out of the nine straw-hats were sat in the galley. Zoro and Sanji had not very subtly gone to the crow’s nest.

“Sanji will kill you if you scratch the table,” Nami said. The intervention meeting had been called, the one they did every so often when something really needed to be intervened with, like when Usopp built a robot Kaya. Even Nami got one when she got incredibly homesick and decided to turn the entire deck into an orange tree grove.

Upon Nami’s threat Usopp hurriedly put the hammer down and joined his hands together. “Thank you, Nami. Now, Sanji and Zoro, yes or no?”

“Sanji tells me they’re not official, but stops flirting so much with Robin and me and starts turning down willing girls at clubs,” Nami told them, “I vote yes, but they’re in denial about it.”

“They make a pretty great couple, right?” Luffy had been nothing but enthusiastic about the new pair. He loved it especially that his two second in commands in battle were getting along well now! Ships were always better when everyone is best friends.

“I agree, Luffy-san,” Brook sighed, “I’ve already written two ballads about them.” He added, “Don’t tell them.”

“How long has it been going on for, since before I joined the crew?” Franky wondered, “I did notice from the start they had a pretty groovy rhythm between them.”

All of them could name at least two times Sanji and Zoro had communicated through a look alone, and then attacked in brutal formation.

“You never saw the Davy Back fight,” Usopp whistled, “Man, that was crazy. They spent most of it fighting each other, then turned on the enemy together and _destroyed_ them.”

“They’re both really strong,” Luffy was saying happily, “Imagine if they had kids now. Kicking swordsmen!” His eyes glazed over.

“There are a few biological issues in the way of that,” Robin reminded him.

“Like what?”

Chopper cut over, “but Zoro told me the other day that they don’t have romantic feelings for each other, that’s why they’re not an official couple.”

“Or,” Franky scratched his chin, “They didn’t communicate, so Zoro has romantic feelings but thinks Sanji doesn’t have any, so told you neither of them did to save face. Meanwhile, Sanji has romantic feelings but thinks Zoro doesn’t have any!”

Chopper’s jaw dropped. “No!”

“I feel a new song coming on,” Brook murmured. “It’s called, ‘Unrequited- OR NOT!’.”

“I wanna hear it!” Luffy jumped to his feet and he and the skeleton musician bounded out of the galley to find a piano.

“Do you think they’ll get it together soon?” Usopp asked.

Robin was smiling, “I definitely think so. Cook just needs to come to terms with his feelings.”

* * *

 

Cook was still refusing to come to terms with his feelings. He’d decided that just because he was now exclusively sleeping with Zoro, that was to say with him and no one else, that didn’t mean that they were a couple nor that romance was involved.

“Fine,” was what Zoro said. What Zoro was thinking was that it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to get Sanji officially as his own. Once over this hump it would be easy sailing with the blonde.

The sea had been so peaceful lately they were starting to get suspicious. Where was the danger? Luffy took to staring out to sea with a telescope to try spot something that might try and kill them, so he could turn the ship straight towards it.

It was getting the point that they knew something had to be soon. They were having too good a time, it was getting mysterious.

Naturally, they were just letting their guards down when a horrific monstrosity rose from the sea and loomed down on them.

No one could really tell what it was, some form of sea king? It had something akin to a pig snout, but which was more in the shape of a shield that guarded the forehead. It’s body was covered in hard scales.

“Cool!” Luffy started stretching out his muscles. A grin appeared on Zoro’s face. Nami called good luck to them from the galley. “I wanna punch it’s nose!” Luffy yelled, “GOMU GOMU NO PISTON!”

His arm stretched back and then flew forward in the direction of the snout. Hitting it, Luffy yelped in pain and retracted his arm. “Hard! Snout shield is hard!” Being made of rubber, and the snout blunt, he was otherwise uninjured.

The monster was annoyed now, and with a loud cross between an oink and a roar, it blew a stream of boiling water towards them. Screeching, everyone ducked for cover, Brook narrowly evading the jet.

“My skin! My skin is burning!” he screamed, then paused, “I don’t have any skin! I’m alright!”

“Idiot,” Zoro muttered, all three swords unsheathed and ready to use them. “I’ll try next, give me a boost, cook.”

Without waiting for an answer, he lunged forward, but Sanji wasn’t expecting him to wait and swung his leg round and kicked the swordsman towards the monster. That was when massive scaly tentacles appeared from underwater. Spotting them, he changed his attack strategy and sliced them instead, then kicked off the snout to land back on the deck. “Tentacles,” he said simply.

“We saw,” Sanji replied dryly, watching the beast to analyse it a little longer. It raised new tentacles, and Luffy and Zoro raced to meet them, so they didn’t crash down on Sunny.

Franky took the opportunity to let his shoulder machine guns open fire upon it, but the hard scales adorning its body meant they had no effect but to anger it further. Robin had summoned giant hands to try and hold down its tentacles, but most of them were being hidden underwater, and no matter how many she held down, more appeared. Its skin was secreting something acidic too, and it began to feel painful to touch it.

Zoro landed back on the deck. “You’re not being very much help, cook.”

“I think I know how to beat it,” he replied, “I’ll need you to cover me.”

“Easy shit,” Zoro said. This was something he could do in his sleep for Sanji.

The cook called for everyone’s attention, “Listen up losers! I think its weak spot is the forehead, see how it has that giant snout to protect it? I need you guys to distract the tentacles while I kick it, alright?”

“Good plan, Sanji,” Luffy beamed, “Do I get to punch it some more?”

“As much as you want.”

“Sweet,” his smile grew.

“Those things are fast,” Zoro warned, “Will you be okay?”

“I’m faster in battle than you are,” Sanji rolled his eyes, “And I can fly.” Zoro shrugged in agreement.

“What if the forehead isn’t the weak spot,” Usopp asked.

“Then I’m fucked. On my mark,” Sanji rolled his shoulders back. “Three, two-“

Zoro took hold of Sanji’s chin and kissed him, “Be careful.”

“-one,” Sanji winked at him and jumped. In the air, several tentacles at once made jabs for him, but some were held down by giant hands, some cut off and some punched away. He focused all his energy on his foot as he positioned it to get behind the snout, and it burst into flames at this command.

“DIABLO JAMBE!” His foot hit the forehead with a crunch as it crushed inwards, apparently his intuition had been correct. Nami winced as she remembered something she’d said once, _you almost feel sorry for the monster when they’re fighting._

There was a deafening squawk as it fell backwards. Sanji jumped back to get out of the way, sky walking to suspend himself in the air. It sunk beneath the water, and he hopped back towards the ship.

“Never bother questioning me,” he said happily as he landed. “I’m always right!”

“Yeah, yeah, well done smart-ass cook,” but Zoro was grinning at him behind his sarcastic words. Sanji found himself smiling back, and in a moment of exhilarated affection pulled Zoro’s face forward and kissed his cheek.

Franky wolf whistled and he steadily ignored him, “Does anyone want a snack? I’m beat,” he said to the loud chorus of yes’s. He took Zoro’s hand as he made his way to the galley, and the swordsman made no move to let go.

“A couple,” the cyborg whispered to Chopper, “Definitely a couple.”

* * *

 

Sanji woke up the next morning painfully comfortable and with a heavy, muscular lump of a swordsman on top of him and snoring into his shoulder. He thought absently they probably should have moved out of the crow’s nest and somewhere more discreet, lest someone come find them, but he wouldn’t give up the fluttery feeling in his heart from Zoro’s snuffling face for anything in the world. His lover was dead to the world, entirely at peace lying on his Sanji-pillow with no respect for the cook’s blood circulation.

Sanji contemplated pushing him off, when the man must have somehow sensed this and made a small moany noise as he repositioned, and Sanji felt his entire heart melt and drain out of his ears onto the floor.

Fuck.

The only thing covering the two of them was the small blanket Zoro had dragged over his waist as he flopped on top of the blonde and entered the dream world. His back was bare and facing the ceiling.

Absently, with no real control over his actions, Sanji lifted a hand and started stroking up and down Zoro’s back. It was surprisingly smooth. He had touched it before, but last night he had been clawing it rather than gently running his hands up and down it. There were no scars, unlike Zoro’s jagged chest, despite all the battle’s he’d been in.

 _Scars on the back are a swordsman’s shame_.

It struck Sanji suddenly how this back, which Zoro guarded so vehemently, was now being left entirely to Sanji’s mercy. He bent his fingers slightly and started running his nails gently over the skin. Zoro was asleep, entirely trusting that Sanji would cause him no harm, that his unguarded back was safe under the cook’s care.

They were both entirely vulnerable. Sanji was quite literally pinned down, though he could kick Zoro off if he wanted to (as if), and neither clothed, both with their guards entirely down. And Sanji caressing this back, running his fingers in mindless circles. He liked the feeling. He liked this feeling a lot, lying on the floor feeling entirely safe in such a vulnerable situation.

Fuck.

Were these… Feelings?

“That feels nice,” Zoro yawned.

Sanji kicked him to the other side of the room, pulled on his pants and jumped down the ladder. Zoro sat blinking, alone now, skin still tingling where Sanji had been stroking his back, and he’d been secretly awake enjoying it. The cook would have to face things soon enough, he thought to himself, but Zoro also thought that as long as he still got to hold him, it was fine if he wanted to be in denial a little longer.

Though, to be truthful, Sanji was now very much starting to slide out of the denial zone. Casual kisses started to be a common occurrence, even in front of the crew. At breakfast when Zoro wondered into the kitchen he’d get a good morning kiss. At lunch, he’d get a good afternoon kiss. In evenings, he got long kisses after dinner while he helped wash dishes.

Sanji was as over the top with Nami and Robin as ever, but once his display was over he was back at Zoro’s side to take his hand and pet his hair. This new loveliness was a surprise to Zoro, but he was loving the attention. He wasn’t sure how he had done it, but he had gone from being Sanji’s worst enemy to being preferred to the two women of the crew.

Amazing.

One evening the crew was hanging out together, Zoro and Sanji sat as close as possible, when Zoro swung his legs over Sanji’s lap, laid his head on Sanji’s shoulder and fell asleep. Smiling, Sanji started petting his hair.

“Is this what romantic feelings look like?” Chopper whispered to Franky.

“Yeah,” he whispered back.

“So they’re a couple?”

“As soon as one of them asks the other,” he replied, “But for all intents and purposes, this is exactly what a couple is.”

Nami decided it was high time they stopped being stupid. Sure it was sweet, but now it was annoying to see them so into each other, literally explicitly not sleeping with anyone but each other, and yet somehow _not_ official? She had given up on Sanji, and decided to go for Zoro.

She confronted him while Sanji was preparing lunch. “Official yet?” she demanded.

“Hello to you too, Nami,” he responded “Yeah, I’m doing okay, how about you?”

“Enough of the crap,” she waved him off, “When are you making it official?”

Zoro exhaled deeply and looked away. “Thanks for your concern, Nami, but it isn’t really anything to do with you.”

“I know you’d be happier if your dumb cook would agree to officially be _your_ dumb cook,” she said, “So why aren’t you making him?”

“He’s confusing,” Zoro finally whined, “I can never tell with him. All I know is that he’s definitely into me and is up for the things that couples do.”

Nami nodded seriously. “I’ll get answers,” her devious grin appeared, “It’s time for one final test…”

A little afraid, Zoro asked, “What is it?”

She giggled. “I’ll hit on him. Then we’ll see how committed he is.”

“What? No!” Zoro yelped.

She frowned at him, and then realised, “Aw honey, you think he’ll go for it, don’t you? Don’t worry, I have more faith, and if he does I’ll smack some sense into him.”

“He’s always been obsessed with you,” Zoro defended himself.

“He rarely gives me a second glance these days before running after you,” she told him, “I’ll get him to admit he’s yours, don’t worry.” And she walked off briskly, he knew she still had the smile on her face.

Lunch was as delicious as ever, but Zoro felt tense. Nami kept smirking at him, and then winking at Sanji. Surprisingly, at the winks Sanji simply beamed at her, but was more concerned with Zoro’s stiff shoulders, asking him if he was okay.

Maybe this plan might actually work. Once lunch was over, and Sanji was clearing plates, Nami waved her hand to get everyone to leave, a few of them looking at Sanji sympathetically as they headed out. Bets had been made. She remained sitting, and as soon as they were all gone loosened her stance and got ready.

“Saaaanji-kun,” she purred, leaning forward to thrust her breasts forward, “Thank you for the delicious meal!”

“Ah mellorine! You make me so happy, thank you,” he said, genuinely pleased. He couldn’t not adore compliments from a woman.

“You're welcome…” she sat back to bat her eyelashes, “You're really soooo good at cooking you know.”

He seemed to realise something was up, and his forehead creased slightly, “...thank you.”

“And good looking, too.”

He stared at her blankly. “Nami… are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, are you? Wouldn't you normally be all over me by now?” she arched a perfect eyebrow and tossed her hair.

“I guess, but...,” something felt uncomfortable in Sanji’s stomach. He just couldn’t fathom accepting Nami’s advances. He looked at her. She was grinning evilly.

“But what?” she asked, clearly delighted.

“But I…” he realised the reason behind her attack, and his reasons behind rejecting it, “Oh no...”

“I can’t believe this!” she laughed and clapped her hands, “You properly like Zoro, don’t you!

“No!” he yelled out of habit, feeling defensive and vulnerable.

“You rejected me for him! You've been after me since we met!! This is amazing!” her eyes were wide and bright, “I just made 10,000 Beri from Usopp, that fucking non-believer!”

“No!” Sanji tried once more, “I just... I just…”

“You did the same on the party boat!” she wasn’t letting him get out of this one.

“I just! Agghh!” finally defeated, the cook collapsed onto a seat and laid his head on his arms. The struggle was over. The battle was won.

“How are you just realising this? You've been refusing to call yourselves official even though you snuggle all the time, and now you're damn committed to each other! You won’t even flirt with _me_ ,” she chastised him.

The blonde was still groaning in his arms, “I can’t believe this... just months ago I was jumping at the chance for time with a lovely lady... now I just want a damn marimo?? How could this happen?”

Finally, Sanji was finally admitting it all. He wanted Zoro and no one else.

“It’s alright honey,” she felt a little sorry for him, knowing it was a lot for him to finally accept his feelings, “Just don't go all lovey dovey on him and call him mellorine.”

“That’s just my way of being affectionate,” he looked up to defend himself. He couldn’t not call lovely ladies mellorine, it was habit.

She hummed, “I don’t think Zoro would want that kind of affection.”

“I reserve all my affection for ladies!” he yelped, as though he’d been insulted.

Nami glared at him as though he was stupid, “Yesterday you went and wrapped your arms around his waist and nuzzled into his shoulder at sunset.”

“I meant verbal affection,” he slumped sulkily in his seat.

“You call him babe,” she reminded him, starting to be very done with all the denial.

“You know what i mean, I think if I went all lovey on him like I do with girls he'd leave me.”

“He can't leave you if you're not officially together,” Nami grinned, thinking that he was admitting they were a couple.

Sanji took it differently. “You're right... so you're saying we shouldn't be official and that way he can't leave me?”

Nami had had enough now.

“IM SAYING GO GET YOUR FUCKING MAN!!!”

There was one more problem. “But what if he says no?”

“He’s not gonna say no he likes you!”

“Zoro likes me?”

“He's been staring at your butt for years!”

“My butt?” Sanji blinked. He’d never noticed.

“GO!” she screamed. Knowing when it was time to stop fighting, Sanji scrambled out and onto the deck. Not unexpectedly, the entire crew was sat outside. He glared at them, and turned to his marimo.

“Dumbass, can we talk for a moment?”

A little hesitantly, he said, “Sure,” and followed him away.

Nami left the galley. Everyone stared her. She winked and gave a thumbs up. Everyone high fived, apart from Usopp who groaned, having lost 10,000 Beri.

Zoro wasn’t sure what to think, he was pretty sure Sanji wasn’t going to announce that he was leaving him, and couldn’t get over Nami, but then again, he wasn’t sure if Sanji could actually leave him if they weren’t official.

And then Sanji said, “Listen, do you want to be official?”

Zoro stared at him in wonder. “Actually?”

“Well that’s what everyone’s gossiping about, we might as well clarify,” Sanji looked sulky now, as though Zoro hadn’t given a favourable answer.

“You’re saying you want to date for real,” Zoro was grinning now. He took a step closer to Sanji, whose sulky expression had mysteriously disappeared at Zoro’s grin.

“We might as well, it’s not as if I hate your company,” Sanji said looking away, but his hand settling on Zoro’s forearm.

“Even though you prefer women?” Zoro had to tease him one last time.

“I prefer _you_ ,” Sanji said, and now Zoro was powerless to him, as he beamed, grabbed his face and kissed him. Sanji made a happy noise and responded with equal enthusiasm, sighing and let himself be pulled close. He broke away for a moment to ask, “So that’s a yes?”

“It would have been a yes six months ago,” Zoro breathed.

“Eh?” Sanji frowned, “So Nami wasn’t kidding when she said you’ve been staring at my butt for years…”

“You have a cute butt,” Zoro agreed.

It hadn’t been too long after they met that Zoro noticed that yes, the new cook on their ship had a cute butt. It was well toned from all the leg attacks he did, and usually well visible in the cook’s suit pants. He hadn’t done anything about it, as at that time he barely liked the cook’s personality, and a cute butt was no match for such an annoying guy. It wasn’t until he started to realise the cook was an alright guy, and caring and selfless, that he started to look further than just the cute butt.

The more time he spent with him, he was also funny, and understood Zoro in the ways others didn’t. Then it wasn’t just his butt that was cute, but also his face, and his hair. Then they started talking more, washing dishes together, joking and almost flirting. Then Sanji had kissed him. So sure, it would have been a yes six months ago, if Sanji had sought him instead of that pretty girl from Periwinkle Island.

He told all of this to Sanji, he decided he might as well, and Sanji stared at him as though he had just had a strange premonition, and suddenly Zoro was a whole new person. And then his tongue was in Zoro’s mouth, so Zoro stopped thinking about other things and decided that was much better to focus on.

* * *

 

The crew was much happier now that the air had been cleared, aside from Usopp who was 10,000 Beri more in debt than before. Chopper felt much better informed in the ways of human relationships, Brook had much to compose about, Franky thought it was beautiful and kept crying, and Nami looked as satisfied as if she had orchestrated the entire thing.

If it was possible, Sanji became even more affectionate now that they were properly together. His public kisses were longer, the casual touches more frequent and his gaze more lingering. They started having dinner separate from the crew down in the aquarium on occasion if they felt like it, while Zoro-and-Sanji became even more of a household term.

The months slipped by, wonderful months in which Sanji’s bright smile was flashed at him if Zoro simply entered a room. They started sleeping in the same bunk, squeezing in and laying on top of each other until Franky had had enough and made them a new, double bunk. Luffy at once flopped on top of it spread eagle, stretching his limbs to fill it, but two dangerous glares from his crewmates and he rolled off.

Usopp, not ready to be traumatised, had made them promise that they would still keep funny business restricted to the crow’s nest. Neither made that promise, so he made himself some sound proof ear plugs.

They came across an island, a few months after Zoro and Sanji got their shit together, as Franky referred to the event. It seemed largely empty, aside from a big mountain at the centre. Luffy’s adventure sensors started going haywire, and he demanded they go and explore it.

“Let’s make camp first,” Sanji said, “Set up the tents then we can go find something that wants to kill us.” At that appetising promise, Luffy got to work putting them up at double time and jumped from foot to foot waiting for the go ahead for an adventure.

They set off from the beach and into the forest, heading for the large mountain in the centre of the island. Nami and Luffy were taking the lead, and Zoro and Sanji the rear. They walked with their joined hands swinging in between them, as they followed their nakama through the dense trees. It was still striking to them how right they felt together, how easy it was to be together after all the time spent disliking.

The island was entirely deserted aside from themselves, no hint of civilisation. It was silent apart from the birds, and seeing as the island was small, if there were people around they’d be able to hear them, or see their campfire smoke.

“It’s so quiet,” Sanji mentioned, “Why do you think the Luffy Radar went off?”

“There’s probably something up,” Zoro said, “He’s usually right when he gets an idea like this into his head.” Sanji hummed in agreement. It occurred to him then that in their excitement of an approaching island he hadn’t kissed Zoro at all that day.

He stopped walking and Zoro paused immediately with him. Sanji turned and pressed their lips together gently before continuing behind the others.

“Any reason?” Zoro asked, pleased nonetheless.

“We didn’t kiss this morning,” Sanji said, “A travesty.”

“A huge one,” Zoro smirked, “Maybe we should kiss again, just to make up for it.”

But it was at this moment they noticed that the others had stopped walking, having come to a clearing ahead. They walked through the gap in the trees to see what they were staring at. They halted immediately, too.

In the clearing was a village. Or, what was left of a village.

The huts were blackened with fire, the grass burnt away, barns collapsed. The floor was covered in skeletons, on the roads, obviously trying to escape whatever had attacked them.

“Oh,” was all Sanji could manage.

Luffy had gone very quiet, in the way he went quiet when he was very angry, and very ready to fight someone.

“They were attacked with fire,” Robin observed, “The only way out was through the forest, it doesn’t look like anyone made it that far.”

“Are the attackers still here?” Nami asked, “A rival tribe, maybe?”

“If there was a rival tribe, wouldn’t we have seen them?” Usopp asked. “Campfire smoke, like ours?”

“They might be on the other side of the island, behind the mountain,” Sanji mentioned, a chill starting to enter his heart as his eye caught sight of a very small skeleton, lying not too far from them.

Luffy was breathing very deeply. “Let’s fight them,” he said.

“We’ll need to find them first,” Zoro had let go of Sanji’s hand, “Should we climb the mountain to see if we can get a better view from there?”

Luffy nodded in agreement. Sanji said, “There’s a chance they already know we’re here. We should stay wary.”

The crew was silent as they made their way through the village. It was small, but the destruction was huge, not a single building left standing, or a single person left alive, unless they had managed it and fled the island.

They re-entered the forest and continued on their way to the mountain. Zoro kept his swords unsheathed, and Nami took out her clima-tact, and Usopp his staff off his back. Chopper transformed into arm point. It was rare that the normally jovial crew was tense like this, but it wasn’t the first time.

They finally came to the base of the mountain. The trees stopped and the smooth rock began. Steps had been carved into it. The straw hats began to climb them, following the path marked out. It wound round the mountain a way. They came to an area where more trees were growing. The steps led away from it, but Usopp’s sharp eyes caught sight of an opening.

“Guys, there’s a giant cave over there.”

“Maybe it’s a secret tunnel,” Brook offered as an explanation, but Luffy didn’t need an explanation to follow his gut feeling, jump down from the path and go and check it out. The crew followed their captain over to where the trees were hiding the massive opening to the cave. They pushed the foliage out of the way and looked in. It was pitch black. Sanji fished out his lighter and flicked it on to offer some light. The cave was too big for it to make much of a difference, but Luffy stepped in anyway.

There was a strange sound coming from the back of it, something that they couldn’t quite recognise. Something crunched beneath Luffy’s foot. He kicked it, and it jangled. Coins. The noise from the back of the cave grew louder. It was a grunting, huffy sound.

“There’s something in there,” Usopp whispered, voice wavering.

Sanji’s mind was whirring with thought. A cave filled with coins. A town destroyed by fire. A loud beast within the cave filled with coins above a town destroyed by fire. The beast now making louder noises. Oh shit.

“Guys,” he said, “I think we need to fucking run.”

That was when there was a howling roar, and more fire than they had seen come out of anywhere burst towards them. They jumped out of the way, and started fleeing back to the forest for cover as the gigantic shitty dragon clawed out of the cave, roaring in anger for being disturbed.

“We should fight it back in the clearing!” Zoro was yelling, “Try and make it back there without getting burnt to a crisp!”

He glanced back to check everyone was with them, and even though he knew Sanji could take care of himself looked out for him too. The blonde was running beside him, face emotionless, looking back to check on the dragon which had now swooped into the air, and was diving towards them.

He and Zoro shared a look. Zoro jumped, Sanji kicked him into the air and he swung at the dragon, managing to injure its leg, but the rest of its tough hide was too strong to pierce. The dragon screeched and soared upwards again, giving the crew time to dive into the trees. Zoro landed back on his feet and nodded at Sanji.

They could hear its cries as they made their way back through the trees, and he wondered absently if the dragon could do anything like heat vision, and how good its hearing was.

Pretty damn good, as the trees erupted in flames close to them. “Keep going!” he yelled, seeing light up ahead where the clearing was. The village appeared before them and the dragon overhead, having followed them there.

“What’s the plan,” Robin panted.

“Uh, dodge fire, aim for the eyes,” Sanji looked panicked, “That’s all I have right now.”

“It’s enough,” Luffy’s eyes were cold, and ready to avenge the villagers he had never met in his life.

“I’ll see if lightning will affect it,” Nami said, getting ready for lightning tempo.

“Kicking?” Zoro asked Sanji.

“Cutting?” Sanji asked Zoro.

“Yup,” they said at the same time, and started to do just that. Chopper swallowed a rumble ball and transformed into his monster form. Robin started forming hands on the dragon, trying to see if she could tickle a weak spot and point it out to the rest of the crew. The wings were too strong and too big for her to try and pin down.

“LIGHTNING TEMPO!” Nami screamed, and the dragon was struck hard, screaming loudly, but then continuing to fly with added fury. It swooped and sent a curtain of flames their way. There was nothing they could do but dodge, though Zoro felt the hairs on the back of his neck singe.

The flames dyed down, but the dragon was still low, and Zoro saw his chance. He ran and jumped, legs not as powerful as Sanji’s but capable of doing the job, and swung his sword. It hit the leg, slicing it clean off, but the dragon was fast and manoeuvred quickly.

Suddenly it had turned around, and was coming straight for Zoro, still suspended in the air, with its mouth open to do God knows what.

And then, some stupid foot came out of nowhere and kicked him out of the way, and then he watched as his Sanji disappeared into the dragon’s mouth.

Nami screamed piercingly, a sound that Zoro wanted to make, but was struck too dumb to manage. He could feel his heart trying to escape his chest, his mind numb, his legs weak.

But then-

“DIABLO JAMBE!” And with that, the dragon’s throat ripped open as a flaming foot shot through it, and a blonde rolled to the floor. The dragon collapsed, dead. Chopper screamed. “CALL THE DOCTOR! CALL THE DOCTOOOOOOR!”

Zoro practically flew over and slid to his knees. “Sanj? Sanji, are you okay?” His heart was hammering as he poked him. Sanji’s eyes snapped open and he sat up.

“Fucking hell, that was _disgusting!_ Jesus Christ, I’m actually going to kill myself!” He picked at his suit coat in distaste, which was covered in dragon saliva. Zoro’s head was bent in relief. Sanji looked at him and whacked his shoulder, “What’s your issue? I’m the one with the ruined suit and nightmares!”

“My issue is I saw the man I fucking love be swallowed by a dragon!”

Sanji blinked. “Love?”

Zoro realised what he’d said. Well, there was no turning back now. “Yeah, I love you.”

Sanji stared at him for a moment longer, then slapped him upside of the head. “DICKHEAD! You chose the WORST TIME in the world to say that!! I’M COVERED IN DRAGON SALIVA! THIS IS THE LEAST ROMANTIC MOMENT IN THE WORLD”

“Fuck that!” Zoro yelled, “I love you, tough shit!”

“Bastard!” Sanji yelled back, “I love you too!”

“Good!”

“Fine!”

The rest of the crew watched standing a little way away, next to where the corpse of the dragon was lying with a large section of its throat missing. “Well,” Robin stated, “They definitely do things in their own way.”

* * *

 

Seven years later, a man was telling this story to his two children.

“And that’s the story the story of how I got eaten by a dragon,” he finished, pleased.

His son stared at him incredulously, “That was the entire, painstaking tale of you and dad got together. Not just, how you got eaten by a dragon.”

Sanji frowned, “But if I hadn’t told you all the other stuff the “I love you” wouldn’t have held such weight!”

“Papa, you could have just said: we were on an island, I got eaten by a dragon and then spat out, and then my boyfriend told me he loved me for the first time,” Cerulean told him, his brain having melted out of his skull in boredom.

His daughter’s eyes were shining, meanwhile. “I thought it was amazing!” Sapphire enthused, “What a love story… What happened next?”

Sanji’s smile grew. “Well that was the first three years, there’s another seven to come!”

Cerulean took to his feet and ran for it.

“Ungrateful son,” Sanji huffed. Sapphire stared at him expectantly. He beamed at her. “Well, after that, we went back to the ship, and I took a shower of course…”

Upstairs, Cerulean staggered into the galley, where Zoro was drinking. “You look like you’ve been through the wars, lad.”

“Papa decided to tell us the entire story of how you guys got together.”

Zoro winced. “That’s a long one. He did the same thing to Zeff, he actually fell asleep.”

Cerulean sighed. “At least it was romantic.”

And the swordsman smiled. “Yeah, it was.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me two weeks to write the 6000 word chapter 10 and four days to write this 14,000 word chapter. I knew from the start I was gonna do a flashback chapter, and this was more fun than I imagined loll.
> 
> I'm probably gonna publish it as a standalone oneshot too for the lols
> 
> Comment and kudos if you liked it


	12. Baratie

Despite them starting to cry upon seeing each other, the warm family reunion Sapphire was hoping for between Zeff and Sanji did not occur. The second they were close enough his father aimed a kick at him. Sanji kicked back, and then they started an all-out brawl while still sobbing.

It seemed this battle might last a while, so the kids took a moment to look around them. Baratie was huge. They had pulled up to the main boat, one with a giant fish head at the front. It had two huge platforms either side of it, and then floors and floors going up with white wood panelling. A little to the side was another boat, with a very startling figurehead. It looked like a very badly made interpretation of Sanji. Above it read, “Nasugasira”, and other than the figurehead and name looked like a smaller Baratie.

Docked nearby, clearly a submarine, was a vessel with “Dessert” written on it. From what they could see of it, it looked like an angler fish.

In front of them, Zeff and Sanji had finally stopped fighting physically and now were simply trading insults.

“So you finally decided to come and pay a visit to the man who you owe your life to!”

“Against all better judgement! And you were the one that fired me!”

“Didn’t expect you to run off so willingly and never be seen again! Though that was a much better outcome in my opinion!”

The two blondes glared at each other, not related but Sanji clearly took after the old chef. Finally, Zeff clapped a hand hard on Sanji shoulder and said, “Welcome home, little eggplant. You’ve grown a little.”

“I’m two inches taller,” Sanji told him, “You’ve only grown outwards, it seems.”

A fresh kick, “Don’t call your only parent fat, your oversized brat!”

A dodge from the son, “Exercise more, then!”

Finally, the brawl came to an end. The rest of the Straw Hats had climbed off their ship and onto the fins of Baratie by now, the pirates unfazed by this scene, but the two children puzzled by it. Chefs had started poking their heads out of windows, and were now chattering excitedly and pointing at Sanji, recognising him.

Cerulean had leant over to whisper to his sister, “This is definitely where I would have imagined Papa growing up.”

Zeff turned around, as though he had only just noticed the twins there. He was puffing slightly from his tussle with Sanji, but drew himself taller now. “Are these your brats, then?”

Sanji huffed, “They’re not brats,” as though he hadn’t called them that himself numerous times.

He replied, “Well they’re related to you, aren’t they?” Not waiting for an answer, he strode over to peer at them. He was a big man, but something about him seemed non-threatening. “Hm, they look sturdy. Skinny though, what are you feeding them?”

“I was skinny as a child!” Sanji snapped.

“You had the damn metabolism of a racehorse!”

“I’m feeding them fine,” Sanji finished.

“Well seeing as they’re not starving to death introduce me to them.”

Sanji pointed to Cerulean. “Cerulean.” He pointed to Sapphire. “Sapphire.”

“Those are stupid names,” Zeff said. Sanji kicked him. “You’d kick your own father!”

“You’re not my actual father!”

“Where was your actual father when you were ten and about to drown and then starve!”

Cerulean’s ears pricked up, this was something Sanji had never shared with them. Sapphire had a slightly concerned frown on her face. Sanji looked stormy all of a sudden, and tilted his head in their direction. Zeff’s eyebrows raised, but he said nothing more about it.

At this point a tall man with thick curls and an apron saying “DESRT” stormed over yelling, “I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! Sanji actually managed to get laid! Who’d have thought we’d see the day!”

“Shut up asshole,” Sanji glared, but the man was now patting his head like a child.

“Ah, how much you’ve grown! Look how broad your shoulders are! I bet you might have even learned how to cook a little!”

“I learned to cook when I was ten! You were there!”

Cerulean was watching, delighted at all the action taking place. Sapphire was starting to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable, but Zoro put his hand on her shoulder blade, which eased her a little. She stiffened again as Zeff approached them.

“You’re Sapphire then,” he said, and she nodded in response, “And that one’s Cerulean. Definitely his, I can see the resemblance. I’ve got two apologies for you.” He held up a finger and said, “One, that you have this stupid string bean as a father. Two,” he held up a second finger, “That the stupid string bean treated your mother so abominably.”

“He was technically nice to her when they were together,” Cerulean said, standing up for his father before reversing the effect as he said, “But added up they were together less than a day, so.”

“Thanks bud,” Sanji said as Zeff shook his head in disbelief. Before the old chef could begin to scold him he quickly said, “How would you like a tour? I would too actually, it’s changed a lot.”

With a final whack to his son’s head Zeff gestured for them to follow him. “Alright mini-beans, follow me, and you, Rubber-man, stay out of the kitchen.” Luffy, already heading in the direction of the huge kitchens wilted in disappointment.

“Sapphire,” Zeff said as they strolled inside, “Is there anything embarrassing you’d like to know about that eggplant?”

She looked a little surprised, and her brother quickly spoke over her, “Yes! Did he ever fall overboard and get eaten by sea kings!”

“Him falling overboard was the reason we got thrown together,” Zeff said proudly, “But it was because of a storm. To this day I regret not leaving him to his doom.”

“You adore me,” Sanji muttered bitterly.

“What was his cooking like when you first met?” was Cerulean’s next question.

“Abysmal. Couldn’t even feed that garbage to a starving dog!”

“Every nine-year old’s cooking is abysmal,” Sanji snapped.

“I’m seven,” Cerulean said cheerfully.

“Whatever,” his father was back to bitter muttering.

Zeff’s interested piqued suddenly, “The mini-eggplant can cook?”

Cerulean nodded enthusiastically, “Papa’s been teaching me some stuff but before I met him I learnt out of cook books!” He quickly gestured to his quiet sister, “And Sapphy can bake really well!” Zeff was nodding approvingly and she blushed pink.

“I’ll put that to the test,” he said, and then gestured to the room they had entered, “Here’s the main dining hall, one of the few original parts of Baratie. Everything else was built on since.”

The twins looked around delightedly, taking in the room Sanji had described to them so often. Sanji’s eyes had brightened considerably as he looked around his former home. He shook Zeff’s shoulder suddenly. “As much as I love standing around and hearing you insult me to my children, I’m gonna go take a look around.” He patted the kids’ heads and bounded off to engage in conversation with a waitress he clearly recognised.

The rest of the crew aside from Zoro had wondered off too. Zeff turned to frown at the swordsman. “So, you’ve got no issues with the whole situation?”

“Zoro’s our other dad,” Cerulean said loyally.

“I can’t say I envy your parentage, son,” Zeff said, “The kitchens are this way.”

“Is that where Papa learned to cook,” Sapphire enthused, and with Zeff’s nod of affirmation bounded away to get a look with Cerulean in hot pursuit.

This was when Zeff said quietly to Zoro, “Did you know the mother?”

“I saw her once,” Zoro said, “She’s dead.”

“I know that, how did the kids take it?”

“Badly at the time, they’ve had a lot to distract them though,” Zoro’s face looked fond for a second, “They’re tough little monsters.” He glanced behind him to Sanji. “Tell them yell for me if they want me,” and he strolled away to his husband.

The twins weren’t too bothered by the absence of their dads, barely noticing as they explored the massive kitchen. Sapphire, who had paid close attention to her papa’s stories, was looking for the chopping board he had described as having scratches in the shape of a pigs tail somewhere on it. She located it triumphantly.

Cerulean already had another question on his mind, “Hey Gramps, what’s up with the ugly figurehead on the other ship?”

Zeff grinned, “Did Sanji never show you his first wanted poster?”

As it was proudly shown to him, the boy promptly burst into hysterical laughter. Sapphire frowned at it, saying, “It’s not very well drawn.” She thought that she could’ve done better, having already sketched him a few times.

“That’s why it’s so funny,” Cerulean howled, “Do you have a copy I can keep? I want to hang in my room!”

“Patty and Carne collected about fifty when it was first commissioned,” Zeff sniggered, “Take as many as you like.”

They were finding they were liking Baratie more and more with every passing moment. It felt comfortable and homely, despite the fact it was a working kitchen, with chefs everywhere and bustling about. Zeff showed them Sanji’s first chef’s hat, tiny and worn but Zeff had kept it, not quite able to throw it away. He told them how the feisty little cook had used to get into fist fights before Zeff taught him otherwise, and how he’d gotten a nosebleed when a pretty woman smiled at him when he was twelve.

Outside, Zoro and Sanji were leaning against the railing looking out to sea. “It’s weird thinking about how much has changed since we were last here.”

“I don’t think we actually spoke once before you joined the crew,” Zoro mused, “I caught a glance of you while Nami manipulated you into giving her free drinks.”

“The first of a thousand angelic manipulations,” Sanji sighed. “You were some dumbass with dumb swords and a weird hair colour.”

“Now you’re the dumbass who married me and accidentally had two kids.”

“Well being a dumbass made me the happiest man in the world,” Sanji winked.

“Don’t get mushy on me I’ll throw you overboard,” but Zoro’s cheeks had flushed in the way that they did when his husband decided to act like a husband, and not the dickhead he usually was. “Imagine what past us would think of seeing this.”

“His hair his still dumb but his shoulders got pretty broad,” Sanji was still in flirt mode, “And look at those arms, I’d hit that-.”

“Shut up,” said Zoro in despair, “You’re awful.”

Sanji giggled as he pressed his side closer to Zoro’s, “Don’t act like you don’t like it, I can see right through you. I can read your mind.”

“What am I thinking about?”

“How hot your husband is.”

Zoro’s expression turned serious. “Actually it was about how the last time we were here it was when Mihawk and I first fought.”

Sanji sighed and drew back, “Way to kill a mood.”

“I’ll defeat him soon,” Zoro gazed at the horizon.

“Go get him, tiger,” Sanji was pouting.

“PAPA!” Sanji was saved from having to put effort into romancing Zoro again as his son pealed towards him. “Look what Gramps gave me!”

“He’s calling him Gramps,” Zoro muttered. Sanji grinned at that, but his expression turned to inescapable dismay as he realised what his son was holding.

“Oh no…”

“WAS THIS REALLY YOUR FIRST WANTED POSTER?”

“I’ve never seen that in my life!” Sanji yelled, “This is defamation of character!”

“You’re a pirate your character can’t get any more defamed,” Zeff reminded him, looking very pleased with himself for exposing his son’s deepest secret.

“I took like ten of these I’m gonna hang them above my bed,” Cerulean had never looked happier, “Sapphy’s being boring she says they aren’t any good.”

“It’s not a realistic interpretation, how could anyone recognise Papa from this,” she huffed, “I could’ve drawn it better.”

“You were always my favourite, Saph,” Sanji said happily, “Please repeat that to every chef on this boat that owns a copy of it.”

She nodded seriously while Zoro had a peer at the poster. “I haven’t seen one of these in ages, Sanji destroys every one he sees and all the new ones have the new boring photograph.” He smirked as he remembered the day it was first commissioned.

“You are the worst husband in the world, shouldn’t you hate everything I hate?”

“That would be boring.”

“You two are very boring so it would be fitting,” Zeff said, “Brat, I’ve remembered a few more things to yell at you about. Shall I show the littler brats to their room before hand?”

“That might be a good idea,” Sanji replied, “Is the guest room still in the same place?”

“No, it’s in the new part.”

They heard a sudden crash, several yells, a high-pitched scream and the sounds of things being thrown around, and then a man in a straw hat and scar beneath his eye ran out on deck, stretched his arms and escaped to the roof carrying a huge basket of meat. He was pursued by a dozen angry chefs and one particularly hostile waiter. Zeff simply said, “Kill him for me later, would you?”, to which Sanji replied, “Of course. When did you get the new wings built?”

“A few summers after you left, we got great business from you becoming famous.”

* * *

 

Life aboard Baratie seemed to be as bustling as this all the time. It was a boat famous for its fighting chefs, and said chefs lived up to their names as they threw themselves into fist fights before taking a break to make sure the onions didn’t burn.

Sanji had been shouted about a list of things, including his children out of wedlock, his impromptu wedding no one was invited to, his lack of contact over the years, his inability to choose an eye to hang his hair over and his lack of cooking skills despite his years on the sea. He also received a lot of questioning on his choice of a husband, who spent a lot of his time on the Straw-hat ship training.

“He’s getting pumped up about Mihawk again since being here,” Sanji explained.

“Mihawk’s nowhere near here though,” Zeff said.

Cerulean, having explored the boat thoroughly, was now eager to try out the industrial kitchen. He’d been given dire warnings to stay out of the chefs’ ways while they were cooking at lunch and dinner, but in the mornings Zeff had given him free reign. He liked the boy’s sharp tongue and honesty. Sapphire was spending a lot of time on the dessert ship watching the bakery going on there, often joined by Luffy who found it easier to steal from kitchen’s where Zeff was not.

One morning Zeff said, “Alright, littler brat, let’s see what you can do. Make me a vegetable stir fry.”

Ecstatic, the young boy dropped two saucepans and spilled broccoli everywhere in his speed. With a little instruction on how to use the stove, he started chopping vegetables.

“You’re fast for a seven year old,” Zeff noted as he watched the knife skills.

“Papa showed me some things,” Rulie said breathlessly, “He said to always remember the knife is your servant not your enemy. If you cut yourself it means you’re a bad master.”

“I told him that,” Zeff said smugly.

 “Actually!?”

“Don’t take your eyes off the board.”

“Sure thing!” he returned his attention to his cutting. “It’s cool getting information passed down from a grandpa! I never met my other one.”

 “Your mother’s father?”

“He was a pirate,” Cerulean said happily, “That means both my grandpas and both my dads are pirates! How cool!”

“You never met him because he went out to sea?”

“He used to visit a lot and then just didn’t come back, he’s been missing 11 years now so granny says he’s either dead or a bastard that doesn’t care about us so we’re better off without him,” Cerulean’s tone was very casual, “Granny used to say that about papa too because he told mama he’d visit once and then never did until I got kidnapped.”

Shocked again, Zeff couldn’t find any words to say anything, stunned. “Eh?”

“That was how papa found out about us, I got kidnapped and then they told papa to pay up so instead he beat them up,” Rulie’s voice was almost cheerful as he recounted the tale.

“The little brat really is stupider than I ever gave him credit for,” Zeff said, half to himself.

“It’s fine because he’s nice to us now, and mama said it wasn’t his fault he didn’t know about us.”

“It was,” Zeff said.

“Maybe a little,” Rulie nodded.

“Do you know what your grandpa’s name is, or his crew?”

“Peter Willow, I’m not sure about the crew,” Rulie told him. “Even mama said we probably won’t see him again, he said once he’d die before breaking his promise to grandma and mama, to see them as often as he could. They’re both dead, so he can’t keep his promise anymore anyway.” He looked a little sad for a moment, but then a thought amused him. “If he does go back to Periwinkle all he’ll find is granny, who’ll kill him for leaving her daughter and granddaughter like that.”

“Are your granny and grandma different?” Zeff was feeling a little confused at the sudden onslaught of information.

Cerulean willingly recited, “My mom is Clara who died a few months ago, her mom is Chloe who we call grandma who died about 10 years ago and her mom is Clementine who is still alive and who we call granny. She still lives on Periwinkle.”

“I’m sorry for your losses,” Zeff said, “Imagine outliving both your daughter and granddaughter.” His expression was slightly dumbfounded.

“Mm,” Cerulean nodded as he added oil to the pan, “It would be the same as papa and me dying before you.”

 “This conversation is taking a morbid turn. Take your heat down a notch and tell me something less miserable about your life.”

“Sure thing, gramps!” Cerulean said cheerfully. “I started learning to cook when I was five, I like playing games, I used to win all the running races in school,” he considered for a moment and then added, “Oh! And I can turn into slime!”

* * *

 

Sanji found himself a little bored with his husband in hardcore training mode and no time for any kind of family time, his daughter hanging out in the dessert trip and his son cooking with Zeff in the main kitchen. He wondered what he used to do all day here, and then remembered that he used to _work_ here. Thus, he found himself a suitable outfit and decided to wait tables.

Having waited the straw-hat table for so many years, and the restaurant before that, it wasn’t hard to get into it. He just needed to waltz around and lay dishes down with a flourish and pour wine in his usual fancy manner, and was finding it far more enjoyable than usual because there were no stretchy arms attempting to take food from others’ plates.

The last he heard Luffy was terrorizing the Nasugasira. Ah yes, the Nasugasira, that was one unpleasant thing about being back here.

A customer asked him, “Hey, is that your face on the other ship over there?” Not looking, he calmly denied it and told Jason to wait this particular table.

The fourth time it happened he realised he couldn’t keep passing off the tables to other waitresses, but denied it again. “Are you _sure_ , it’s got the eyebrows and everything!”

“Very sure, ma’am,” he said, ready to go over and kick the head off of that damn boat.

“What a great coincidence,” the customer was luckily gullible and willing to leave it there.

Sanji noted down their orders and glided back into the kitchen to tell the chefs. He recognised most of them, but now there were obviously more than before, and some of the old faces were no longer there. There were a lot of younger apprentices, looking frazzled as orders were barked at them by the senior chefs, and even more frazzled by the sudden appearance of Blackleg Sanji in their workspace.

Sweat started dripping down a young man’s nose as Sanji peered over his shoulder.

“S-sir, could you please not?”

“Sorry,” he took a step back to give the apprentice some air.

“No I’m sorry, it’s just your quite famous around here,” he spoke quickly and stammering.

“Because I used to work here or because of the nakama of the Pirate King thing?”

The apprentice had gone back to looking rather stressed, and a few more were edging closer, “For working here! They tell everyone about you.”

Sanji glanced at his workstation, “Shouldn’t you have added more water to this?”

Horror struck the apprentice’s face, but well trained he added it with no further hassle and then said, “Could I ask you a question?”

“Sure! I love giving advice!” Sanji’s eyes lit up.

“No, it’s not that it’s just,” the apprentice bit his lip, “Could I have your autograph?”

The loud yelp of, “What in Holy Hell?!!” tore Sanji out of this particular conversation and he looked over to the other side of the kitchen to see what was going on. What he saw was his old man staring in half horror at a purple clone of himself.

“Rulie, what have I said about slime in kitchens,” Sanji chided, and the purple Zeff shrunk back to young boy size and turned back into his son.

“You let him eat a devil’s fruit?” Zeff snapped.

“Zoro did,” Sanji corrected him, “I was furious, and because Rulie can’t remember basic facts for his life he keeps trying to swim.”

“It’s hard to get used to it,” he was pouting as he continued to fry the vegetables. The apprentices were whispering excitedly to each other, and most chefs had dropped their work. Zeff waved them off to get started again.

Zeff noticed what Sanji was wearing, “I’m not paying you, you know.”

“Yeah yeah not since you fired me,” Sanji straightened his waiter’s shirt.

“But look where that got you,” he replied smugly, “Nakama of a pirate king, and with a weird slime son.”

“Thanks,” said Cerulean.

“Sapphire’s very normal,” Sanji said, “She bakes thought can’t get the hang of cooking. And Rulie can’t bake.”

“Yes I could,” his son argued, “I choose not to! It’s not my fault cake recipes go wrong at the smallest thing. Cooking is more practical anyway!”

“Sure, sure,” Sanji patted his shoulder, “I’ve gotta go, my tables need me. No slime and behave yourself.” He turned and walked back through the kitchen, pausing only to sign the paper the apprentice from before waved at him.

* * *

 

It was undecided how long the Straw Hats were going to stay at Baratie, but although it wasn’t said it was clear they were welcome for however long. It was a peaceful break from the stressful monster filled life of the Grand Line and New World. Nami was taking time to organise her desk and papers some more, Robin was finding it easier to read without the crew in closer proximity and the rest were having a great time make regular food raids.

The weather was mostly fine, as seasons were nice and constant in the East Blue and it was just about the end of summer. Zeff was pleased because as there was word in the local area of their presence Baratie became more bustling with tourists.

As hard as Sanji tried to destroy his old posters, more appeared and were brandished in front of guests proudly.

“My new photo is so much better, come _on_!” Sanji protested, snatching a wanted poster out of Carne’s hand as he showed it to a young family. He handed them one of his new pictures and then swept away as they stared at him, star struck.

Sapphire wandered around happily, enjoying the atmosphere of the restaurant boat. Most evenings they ate in either Baratie or Nasugasira, and often the twins and younger members of the crew made their way to the dessert ship at least once or twice a day. Some evenings they were treated to Zeff’s private cooking in his own apartment on one of the top floors. The old man had ended up quite taken with his grandchildren, Cerulean for his sharp humour and Sapphy for her gentle charm.

He found her one day staring at photographs in the corner of his living room, trapped in thought. He walked over to see what she was looking at. It was his collection of photos of a young Sanji, which he had taken when a guest left behind a camera, so he had put it to use.

“The string bean was about ten or eleven there,” he said, and Sapphy nodded.

She didn’t say anything, looking carefully at each photo. One was of her father with a too-big chef’s hat on, scowling at the camera. Another was him staring besotted at a woman in the dining hall. There was one of him pointing enthusiastically at some rare bird that had landed on the railings. But there was also one of both Zeff and Sanji, with him with his hand on his son’s shoulder.

It was strange, she thought. These photos were like the ones mama had taken of her and Cerulean, it was such a cute fatherly thing, for him to have taken these photographs of Sanji. If he was just a kid he had picked up, why get these sweet pictures get printed out. And yet Sanji denied so vehemently that Zeff was his father.

“Why does Papa say he’s not your son?” she asked him.

“He’s a stupid brat, you can’t not have noticed that by now,” Zeff said. He added, “Biologically he’s not, but I’ve always considered myself his parent.”

“I think he does too,” she said, “I don’t know why he’s like that.”

Zeff was quiet, and then trying to be tactful said, “He didn’t have the best experience of fathers before me. He might just be opposed to the idea of having one.”

Sapphire looked at him slowly, “You wouldn’t tell me if I asked what his real dad was like, would you?”

“No, that’s for him. And for all true purposes, I _am_ his real dad.”

The girl smiled at him, “That’s good, I like you as a grandpa.”

“Cerulean was informing me about your tragic backstory, apparently I’m your only one,” Zeff said, closing the photo album.

She nodded, “That’s right, though Peter might not be actually dead.”

“He also told me you can bake, but can’t cook.”

Fire lit up in her eyes, “How dare he! I cook better than he bakes, you should see his attempts at puff pastry! And that’s stuff included in cooking too! Ask him to make you biscuits, then you’ll see how hopeless he is! He can never make any kind of dessert!”

Zeff had stared to laugh, heartily amused at how insulted she was. “Why don’t you two have a Great Baratie Bake-Off and see,” he grinned.

She flew out of the room to grab her brother. He was never one to turn down a challenge, and especially as in this instance he wanted to protect his name as a baker.

“Let’s do three things,” she said, eyes alight with competitiveness, a far contrast from her usual slightly empty gaze, “Both of us make some kind of tart, whatever flavour, then we both bake biscuits from the same recipe and see how it turns out!”

“Her personality can really change,” Usopp muttered to Luffy, “She’s as terrifying as Sanji in a competition.”

“Easy,” Cerulean crossed his arms arrogantly, “Why don’t you just admit defeat already, Saph, huh?”

“Because your only talents lie in savoury food, and I know it for a fact,” she counteracted.

“I’ll wipe the floor with you _and_ your dumb biscuits!”

“Alright, alright kids let’s break it up,” Sanji interjected, to Luffy’s disappointed, as he’d always wanted to see how a fistfight between the twins would end up. “Sapphy’s terms seem good so let’s stick with them. Which recipe will you go for, for the biscuits?”

“Mama’s chocolate shortbread one, it’s easy and I don’t want to completely humiliate him,” she still sounded fired up.

“Fine, fine, do you know it?”

“I brought her recipe with me, it’s in my bedroom back on the other ship.”

“They can hold it at Patty’s dessert ship,” Zeff said, “It’s closed on Mondays.”

“ _I’ll destroy you_ ,” Cerulean whispered.

Nami said quietly to Sanji, “Why are your children so terrifying?”

“I was a cute child, so maybe from Granny” he replied, memories skirting over the short temper he’d always had, even back at Germa. (He had been cute though).  

And so two furious seven-year-olds were placed in the kitchens of the Baratie dessert ship, with Zeff and Luffy judging (Zeff on technical skill, Luffy on taste) and Nami acting as referee. Sanji had been decided as too close to be unbiased, so he sat on the side-lines with Zoro, who had been convinced to take two seconds away from training to see this.

As agreed, the first round was whatever tart they felt like making. They were given an hour. Sapphy got right into it, making the pastry and then chilling it, before starting on her filling. Rulie was certainly slower, but spite was fuelling him and he got in with it passionately.

He was doing a strawberry tart, while she was doing treacle and lemon curd. That meant she had more on her plate, while all he had to do was make a cream and chop strawberries.. She quickly got ready for her two fillings, whisking two bowls at the same time and adding ingredients. She was making both of them at the same speed as Cerulean was making his one thing.

“Oh my God they’re absolute devils,” Nami was saying in awe, “How are they seven?”

“I got my archaeologist licence when I was eight,” Robin said.

“Sometimes I’m not convinced your human, though.”

“Don’t we all call Sanji a part of monster trio,” she reminded her, “So these two must be half monster.”

They definitely seemed that way, desperately trying to out compete each other. Usopp had been given the heroic task of literally beating Luffy away with a broom when he tried to take a taste of something.

Cerulean despite everything was managing to keep up with his sister, though he was less graceful and at ease as his sister he _did_ have skills in the kitchen. He wasn’t quite sure how much sugar to add in his jam, but decided too much was better than too little. Meanwhile Sapphire was using exact measurements she knew by heart and had carried out many a time. For Rulie he was essentially just following a recipe, and for the first time.

The pasty was removed from the fridge and baked. Cerulan put his straight into the oven, while Sapphire was blind baking, putting baking beans in and baking for twenty minutes, then taking it out, brushing it with egg yolk and baking again for eight. He noticed her doing this and remembered panicked that the recipe had called for him to do something similar, but he had thought it had sounded stupid and hadn’t bothered.

Fillings were added and set, Sapphy first spreading the lemon curd and then the treacle and then putting it in the fridge, and Cerulean putting in the crème patisserie and then in the fridge, and then taking it out to arrange the strawberries and sugar glaze it. 

Both finished in the time limit. Luffy leapt forward but received a whack with the broom before he could swallow both whole. Zeff took a slice then left the tarts to their fate as Luffy pounced.

Sapphy’s bake was better, Zeff said, and her fillings divine. Cerulean could have done with blind baking his, but his filling was good.

“They were soo gooood,” Luffy was moaning, “Make me more!”

“Biscuits are next.”

“You guys need to have bake-off’s more often. Please!”

Clara’s chocolate shortbread recipe was collected and put in front of them. They were given 45 minutes.

Sapphire got straight to it while Cerulean paused a moment to take in the recipe. He preheated the oven, then added together the flour, sugar, butter and cocoa powder. Immediately he spilled the cocoa powder everywhere, but in a hurry swept it to one side and started mixing passionately. A sighing Sanji moved forward to start clearing up the mess as Rulie stirred.

The mixture was quite moist and light brown. Rulie hadn’t been sure how much cocoa powder to add, so deciding Sapphy’s looked darker than this quickly added another spoonful, not spilling it everywhere this time. He’d also used golden sugar and it occurred to him he might have needed white caster sugar- or was it icing sugar that was used in these biscuits? He checked the recipe again and saw that it just said “sugar” so decided it was fine.

It was getting thicker now, and he remembered when he was making the pastry he used his hands to knead it, did biscuit dough need mixing like that? He decided to keep going with a spoon, as Sapphy didn’t appear to be attempting to use her hands. Finally, the mixture came together. He lined a baking tray with greaseproof paper and started rolling the dough into small balls.

“It looks kind of like poop,” he said, as it was quite wet looking.

“Oh my God,” was the only answer Sapphire dignified his remark with, as she got on with her own work. She was ahead of him, already using a fork to squash down the biscuits slightly and add the ridge marks.

She slid hers into the oven as Rulie was halfway through rolling his balls.

 _I’m gonna challenge her to see who can make a better ragout and see how she likes it_ he thought to himself, knowing full well when it came to savoury flavours he was boss. Annoyed at how fast she was going, he shot some purple slime at her shirt.

“ _Rulie_!”

“No slime in the kitchen!” Sanji said.

“It was an accident,” he pouted, which his dear sister saw right through. She drew her finger across her throat in a “I’ll kill you” motion and then leant against the counter to wait for her biscuits to finish cooking. Rulie put his in the oven, slightly misshapen but well loved, he decided.

She took hers out and put them on the cooling rack, perfectly formed uniform circles. Rulie decided to check on his, and saw they were still soft.

A little later he checked again, poked one and saw it was still soft.

He did it again five minutes later and to his confusion saw they were _still_ soft, as though they hadn’t cooked!

“Time’s nearly up, Rulie,” Nami warned him, so he pulled them out and put them on the plate. To his confusion they were a darker colour to Sapphy’s, as though burnt, and yet they hadn’t cooked?

“They harden as they cool,” she told him.

“Oh.”

His annoying older twin had probably figured out Rulie’s ailment ten minutes ago and yet said nothing, hadn’t she?

Unsurprisingly they declared hers better, as they weren’t burnt, and were better shaped. Luffy swallowed all of Cerulean’s whole nonetheless.

“See? I am the better baker,” she sighed happily, having won in her eyes.

“This wasn’t about who was better, it was about whether I could bake, which clearly I can,” he argued, “Let’s have a three-course meal cook-off and see who comes out better off!”

“I’ve never denied you’re a better cook than me!”

“I’ve never denied you’re a better baker!”

“Why were you having a bake off then?” Sanji asked.

“I heard he said I couldn’t cook so decided to embarrass him in baking,” Sapphy replied.

“She was just being petty,” Cerulean said happily, glad he was actually coming across better now.

“Go die,” she snapped.

Zeff was watching it all from beside their father. “It’s like there being two of you,” he said, “What hell. Thank God, I only had to deal with one of you.”

“They’re great though,” Sanji was grinning.

“Yeah, they’re good kids.”

* * *

 

Their time at Baratie was coming to a close, and the crew had started getting ready to set sail again before marines caught wind of them. Cerulean had tucked away several of his father’s old wanted posters and had noted down a few new recipes from Zeff. Sapphire had enjoyed getting to know more about Sanji’s past, and meet a grandparent of hers for the first time (not including her great grandma of course, granny).

 Cerulean was slightly disappointed that they hadn’t spent much time with Zoro over the past week or so, but Sanji explained to him this was the first place he had faced Mihawk, and so was getting fired up over that.

“You back off to the Grand Line then?” Zeff asked Sanji as he caught him taking the twins’ suitcases to the ship.

He tossed them onboard and nodded, “Yeah. Luffy gets antsy being in one place for too long with nothing trying to kill him. We might go see Nami’s island and Vivi too while we’re in the East Blue, though.”

“Don’t wait another ten years to visit.”

“Don’t just wait for me to come to you, take some initiative.”

“Well don’t get married again and don’t invite me.”

“Don’t get all annoyed about that.”

“Don’t have two more kids from a one-night stand.”

“Don’t be stupid I’m married now.”

The two men glared at each other for another minute, then Zeff clapped him on the shoulder. “You did a good job.”

“At what?” Sanji frowned.

Zeff looked at him, and thought about everything his son had achieved, and said simply, “Everything. Write to more when you’re at sea.”

Sanji frowned at him, and then with teary eyes nodded. “I will! I’ll send pictures of Saph and Rulie!”

“Don’t cry at me, idiot,” Zeff said with his own teary eyes.

“Don’t call me an idiot old man!”

“Don’t start this again, please just get on the boat,” Nami called, and Sanji nodded, bowed once deeply to his father and then headed to the ship. Cerulean and Sapphire hugged him before following suit, and with the crew of the Baratie waving them off like they had ten years before, the Straw Hat Pirates sailed away back into the deep blue ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me a long time ha. It took me 1 month to write the first 50,000 words and then 1 month just to write this 6000. Sorry about the bake off thing, but if it hadn’t been clear that I’m English up til now I think I just made it super obvious. Also I think this chapter might be a bit crap in general, so sorry about that ha
> 
> Thank you for all the reviews and kudos as usual!
> 
> **EDIT: Americans, to us biscuits are what cookies are to you, sorry for any confusion


	13. Peter

By the time the twins had been on the ship for six months, the crew almost couldn’t remember a time that they hadn’t been there. They had truly become part of the Straw Hat Pirate crew, dear to every crew member and especially to their two fathers.

Zoro gradually floated out of his determination haze to the happiness of his son, who’d missed having his company. He quickly set about monopolising his attention again, asking him to show sword tricks and play cards. The man never forgot about his quiet daughter though, calling for her to come join them when Rulie wanted to play.

As her hair was growing longer and longer, Sanji had taken to braiding it for her. He’d known how to do it for a while, as he’d picked up the trick when he was a teenager hoping it would be impressive to girls. He still cooked with Rulie and baked with Sapphy and argued with Zoro. The crew continued to run into bouts of danger, and they continued to fight it off before getting back to their general daily shenanigans. They weren’t sure if it was the fresh sea air, or being less coddled and getting more exercise, but her frailty was lessening, and she was keeping up with her brother more and more. They received and sent letters to granny, they played with their silly captain and listened to the music of the skeleton singer.

Autumn passed them and then they sailed into winter, though due to the strangeness of the weather in the New World the only way they _knew_ it was winter was due to the calendar telling them they were in the months of December, January and February. Near the 25 th of December they came across and island that celebrate Christmas and joined in with the festivities, because infamously they were never ones to pass up on a party.

Cerulean had to be physically dragged away from the reindeers, which he found adorable, and his only solace was that they indeed had their own reindeer aboard the ship. Luffy meanwhile had to be physically dragged away from the buffet table and the captain stared woefully back at the island as they sailed away, Rulie joining him as he remembered the cute animals.

They celebrated New Year’s with special fireworks from Usopp which filled the night sky with colour and noise and accidentally baited a Sea King, which was fought off under the brilliant purple and red lights scattered in front of the stars. Back when they lived on Periwinkle there had been far less colour and far fewer dangerous monsters, so Sapphire and Cerulean had never had such a wonderful night.

Valentine’s day was a day Cerulean greatly feared, as anything sappy caused him to want to throw himself overboard. Sapphire meanwhile loved the sentiment of a day a devoted to love and made chocolate cupcakes for everybody on the ship. Luckily for Rulie his dads only noted the date with a “Where’s my chocolate, bitch?” “Where’s mine, dumbass?” (For his benefit, they had kept everything else behind a locked door).

As winter settled into spring, there was a new buzz aboard the ship, which was that off two children were approaching their eighth birthday. It was obvious from the new light in their eyes and the way they scampered about the boat and checked days off of the calendar how pumped they were.

Their enthusiasm leaked into Luffy and Usopp who started to plan the party and decorations while Sanji and the two children had a serious discussion about the cake.

He had his notebook out and nodded as they added details.

“So we’re talking chocolate sponge, right?”

“No, chocolate and banana!” Cerulean interjected.

“I wanted just chocolate!” his sister challenged him.

Sanji was scribbling away and told them, “We can make it multi-tiered, guys.”

New glee entered their eyes, and Sapphire quickly started adding details. “Can we have different butter creams in between the layers? And can we have an orange sponge in one tier for Nami, and a coffee one for Robin? I think Luffy likes every flavour, what flavour does green-dad like?”

“He doesn’t like cake that much,” Sanji said absently, “I’ll need to make him some onigiri.”

“Can you make sugar figures?” Cerulean asked enthusiastically, “I want fondant reindeer!” He had never quite forgotten the ones he had met on that Christmas island.

Chopper, listening in nearby, muttered somewhat bitterly to himself that Rulie had never been so enthusiastic about them after meeting _him,_ what was so special about those other ones?

“We need sixteen candles, eight for each of us,” Sapphire said as she considered the logistics, “Though if we take too long to blow them out Captain might come after the cake…”

“We tend to tie him down in situations like these,” Sanji assured her.

On the actual day, they were woken up first by an overly enthusiastic Luffy who swung in and threw confetti at them, before he was shepherded out by Zoro. As Luffy left the room Zoro turned back to the now wide-awake twins and said, “Happy Birthday, kids.”

He looked only mildly surprised as they threw themselves at him.

“It’s birthday cuddles, mama said it was very important,” Rulie explained to him. Zoro only grinned at them and said, “I’d have to agree.”

Following this they scampered upstairs to the kitchen to do the same to Sanji, who liking affection seemed to enjoy it. Still, he detached their limbs from him and sat them down at the galley table to have their birthday breakfast, which Luffy was already sat anticipating. Presents were brought in and unwrapped, including a parcel sent from many miles away which enclosed knitwear from their loving great-grandmother.

Usopp had strung streamers painted with their faces on them all over the ship, and even around Franky’s shoulders, and the twins got hats that said, “Birthday King” and “Birthday Queen” on them.

The cake was presented later that day, just as big and complicated as had been promised, and even Zoro was coerced into having to take a slice. The candles were blown out, picked off, and Luffy set loose on it once everyone had taken some, Luffy promptly screamed at, cake thrown everywhere and Sanji sighing over the waste of his efforts.

But nothing could dampen Sapphire and Cerulean’s happiness, because they were being introduced in full force to a Straw-hat party, which naturally included dancing until after midnight and a fire being set somewhere. In this instance it was Usopp's hair, who promptly screamed and threw himself into the ocean.

When they were finally shepherded to bed by their dad, the twins were halfway to a candy coma and still buzzing with energy.

“Come on guys, the party’s over,” Sanji was saying as he forced toothbrushes into their hands.

“We may have left the party,” Cerulean’s words were slightly slurred, “But they party hasn’t left us!”

“I think the party’s left me,” Sapphire yawned. She started swaying slightly on her feet, and Sanji lightly picked her up to deposit her in her bed. Rulie strolled fairly willingly in after them and hopped into his own bed. Sapphire raised her arms up to Sanji, who took the hint and wrapped his arms around her.

“Thank you for today, papa,” she said into his shoulder. He kissed her forehead and turned to his son.

“Do you want a night-night cuddle too, Rulie?”

“I’ll take a night-night manly bro-fist,” he replied. Sanji made a mental note not to let him spend so much time with Franky, lightly bumped his fist against Cerulean’s, turned out the light and left the room.

Up on deck only Zoro, Luffy and Franky were still awake. Chopper was passed out in the corner with Brook’s jacket laid over him, Franky was sweeping up streamers and Luffy was sat on the figurehead humming happy birthday to himself. Knowing who he wanted to disturb, he made his way over to Zoro, who sat near the galley finishing off a bottle of sake. The swordsman grinned and raised his arm as Sanji approached to put round his shoulders.

“Fun day,” he mused, as the blonde nodded. He shuffled slightly closer to lay his head against Zoro’s shoulder.

“I like our life,” Sanji said finally.

Zoro glanced at him, and smiled in agreement. “Yeah, it’s not bad.”

“I hope things don’t change, not soon at least.”

Naturally, that was when everything changed.

* * *

 

The excess of party food was finished off quickly in the days following, by Luffy’s heroic volunteer. Days afterwards they were still finding streamers behind furniture from Franky’s very enthusiastic decoration canon. Other than that life proceeded as normal, the only feasible difference that the twins were now eight. Chores were completed, Sanji cooked, Luffy wreaked havoc and Brook played his music.

“Could you catch a starfish with a fishing rod?” Sapphire asked Luffy as they sat fishing.

“I think they live on the bottom of the seabed,” he reasoned, “You’d need a massive starfish or a super long fishing rod.”

She nodded pensively. “I like starfish.”

“I’ll swim down and get you one!”

“CAPTAIN NO!”

He was already on his feet, but something on the horizon caught his eye and made him pause. He squinted, then jumped back onto deck and shouted, “Ship! Coming our way!” Nami was out in a second with her telescope and looking to where Luffy pointed.  

“Pirate ship,” Nami was saying, “It looks pretty rundown, I don’t think they’re up for a fight. They’re not sailing aggressively.” She put down the telescope. “I wonder what they want.”

“Maybe you and Rulie should go downstairs,” Zoro said to Sapphy. She pouted.

“Nami says they don’t seem aggressive!”

“It might be a rouse,” she called over, but Sapphire stood her ground.

“You guys are strong, can we sit and watch from a safe distance?”

Zoro considered it, and after a glance at Sanji nodded. “Fine, where’s your brother?”

Cerulean had already grabbed some snacks and was waiting for the show. He waved Sapphire over to his vantage point. The rest of the crew gathered on deck, Franky muttered quietly to Luffy, “Canons are prepared.” The captain nodded.

Meanwhile, “I wonder if this one will have any more of Sanji’s children.”

“Do you want to shut up, Usopp?”

“I don’t think we have room for anymore.”

“We’ll have room once I kill you and throw your body overboard.”

A seemingly serious threat, Usopp said no more.

Nami was still watching the ship, “It’s definitely coming towards us, anyone recognise its roger?”

No one did, the ship was entirely unfamiliar, and also very old looking. Its flag was a little torn, its wood faded and chipped, half of the figurehead broken off. Yet it sailed still, and they could see its crew now, who were waving vigorously at them.

Sanji said, “I think they just want our attention.” There was nothing about the ship that looked like it wanted to or was able to fight, they only looked eager to talk to them.

“Maybe it’s just another fanboy ship,” Chopper was considering.

“They usually have some parody of our flag, this one is completely different.”

The eager stranger ship was fast moving, and near them in no time, sailing up alongside. It had a sizable crew, all of whom were middle aged or older. There wasn’t a young pirate in sight, which made sense also given the apparent age of their vessel. Another strange thing was how relieved they all seemed to see the Straw-hats, as though this had been their goal for a long time.

“Ahoy,” Luffy called over, “What do you want?”

One of the pirates, not the captain clearly, spoke up. He was older than fifty definitely, handsome though, and vaguely familiar looking. He seemed nervous. “Uh, Blackleg Sanji?”

“Dear God,” Usopp whispered, “I was right!”

“Shut up,” Sanji hissed, though he would be lying to say he wasn’t a little nervous. “That’s me, what is it?”

“Well it’s just that,” the pirate was fiddling with his hat, despite his nervous tone his eyes were wide with emotion they couldn’t place, “Do you know a Periwinkle Island?”

Sanji’s expression must have changed explicitly, because the Pirate went on, “And a Clara Lavender?”

“Why?” he asked coolly.

“She’s my daughter.”

Cerulean dropped his popcorn.

* * *

 

2 MONTHS EARLIER

The house was so quiet these days. When before it had been her, Clara and the twins, there was never a moment’s quiet as baking and playing and chatting went on all day. Now with Clara dead and Sapphire and Cerulean with their father on a ship far away somewhere, Clementine felt the harsh silence deep in her bones.

She often glanced out the widow, not waiting for anything to appear, but wondering where her great-grandchildren were, out in that vast ocean. She had never left Periwinkle island except to go to the neighbouring one a short boat’s journey away, but she had seen the maps and heard the tales of the immense world out there, where so much happened.

It was on the ocean that that damned Peter had disappeared, where Sanji had disappeared to before returning out of the blue. That was where all the historic battles had taken place, and civilisation had started. It was endless and she knew she would never see it, not at her age, but often wondered what parts of the twins were seeing right at that moment.

“Good morning, Clem!” and Jacob strolled in.

He came to visit often, the dear boy, and he was possibly the only non-relation in the entire existence of the universe that could get away with calling her Clem without getting a beating.

She moved away from the window to great him. “Hello, Jacob. How’s your father?”

“No better,” Jacob didn’t sound moved by the ailment of the abusive man, whose medical downturn was most likely attributed to his excessive drinking. “I picked you some apples from the farm.”

“How charming. What shall we do with them?”

“Can we make pastries?” he was grinning, “We have enough sugar, right, I only picked up your groceries a couple of days ago.”

“Ought to be,” she said, not having moved far from the window. It was at that moment something caught her.

She froze and stared harder, and then frowned.

“Granny?” Jacob asked.

“What in the name of the Virgin Mary…” Clementine muttered. “First neither shows up for years on end, then they both pop back in the space of six months.”

“What?”

“That bloody Peter’s back.”

* * *

 

Out of everybody in the world, he was the last person they had expected to see, even behind Jesus Christ himself performing the miracle of walking on water and strolling towards their island.

He looked older, though of course he was older as he hadn’t been seen in more than 10 years, but he looked old beyond that. He could’ve been gone twenty years, or thirty. For a man not even fifty-five yet he had haggard lines across his face and most of his hair had gone grey.

But one thing hadn’t changed, and that was his pleasant easy smile and laid-back gaze. Only in his eyes had age not affected him.

“Clementine!” he looked delighted to see her.

She slapped him hard across the face.

“Owch,” he pouted a little at the abuse. “There wasn’t any need for that.”

“No need for that? After all the agony you put my family through?”

His eyes lit up. “Are Chloe and Clara around? Clara must be grown up now! Has Chloe fallen for anybody else? She still loves me right?”

At this she suddenly felt a little sorry for him. Of course, there was no way for him to have known that in his absence both his daughter and his wife had dropped dead.

Suddenly tender, she laid a hand on his shoulder. “Perhaps you should sit down.”

It took forty-five minutes for him to stop weeping, and longer than an hour to get his sniffles under control. Jacob had sat dutifully with a box of tissues and waste paper bin next to him. “H-how are they both dead?” he blew his nose again.

“Chloe died three years after your last visit, and Clara six months ago. You just missed her.”

“I thought… It was always my one solace, that they were waiting for me. I thought if I could survive I could go back to them.”

Peter had had a solid reason for not visiting at least, he and his crew had been caught on some strange island and found themselves unable to escape. The second he had, he had come straight back.

“It was going to be my last voyage, I promised her. I was going to go and find some treasure and then the three of us would live happily ever after.”

It was only now his eyes matched the age of the rest of face.

Jacob felt sorry for him, and said, “At least you have your grandkids.”

Peter looked at him, “What grandkids?”

“Oh of course,” Clementine said, “Good point, Jacob, I quite forgot to mention. Before she died Clara fell into a similar predicament as her mother.” He stared blankly. “She fell for a passing pirate and had his children. After she died they went to live with him, their names are Sapphire and Cerulean. A girl and a boy.”

His face was still entirely blank, in shock. “What?”

“Their names are Sapphire and Cerulean and they’re living with their father in the crew of the Pirate King.”

“The Pirate King?”

“While you were gone a pirate named Monkey D. Luffy found the One Piece and became the Pirate King. His crewmate Blackleg Sanji is the father,” Jacob explained.

“The One Piece was found?” Peter gasped, looking far more astonished. Clementine glared at him and it occurred to him to get his priorities straight and added, “And I have two grandkids who are part of his crew.”

He set off the next day with his crew, to try and find that crew.

* * *

 

“Damn” Usopp said, “You’ve had a hard life, man.”

“I totally have,” Peter agreed. He was sat on the Straw-hats’ ship now with a cup of tea in the Galley. Sapphire and Cerulean were sat by his side, enraptured.

Sapphire looked quite satisfied as she said, “So you didn’t mean to abandon her, that’s nice.”

“Of course I didn’t,” her grandfather looked upset, “I’m a nice guy! Didn’t that guy do the same anyway?” He gestured to Sanji.

Sanji replied, “I didn’t know I had kids and wasn’t gone for as long.”

“Exactly, _you_ weren’t even thinking about them, I did every day!”

“I took responsibility and didn’t leave them once I knew!”

“I wasn’t going to leave them again it was meant to be the last time!”

“GUYS,” Nami yelled, and then sighed, “You’re both scumbags, there’s no point arguing over who’s worse of a dick. Accept you were both crappy dads and move on.”

“I was there for Clara’s childhood,” was Peter’s last mutter.

Cerulean was absent-mindedly tapping on the table, considering all he had just learnt. And then he spoke, “So what’s your plan now?”

Peter looked confused.

“It’s just that, you went to return to your family, they weren’t there so you came after us, and now you found us so what’s your plan now?”

His grandfather’s face was blank, and then melted into existential panic. “I- I don’t know. I guess I could go back to being a pirate?”

He looked so stressed that Robin decided to step in. “Why don’t you stay here for a while and get to know your grandkids while you decide what to do with your life.” She looked about her crew. “Any objections?”

No one had any. Luffy as usual was just watching the drama happily from the side-lines, despite it all happening aboard his ship.

* * *

 

And so, the Straw Hats received a new part-time member, the rather air-headed but kind-hearted Peter Willow. It was apparent quickly he wouldn’t get on well with Sanji, as the two of them saw in each other parts of themselves they didn’t want to. That was, the pirate that abandoned their children and mother of said children.

“You know,” Peter muttered to him when Nami wasn’t around, “I was there for Clara’s birth.”

“I haven’t left Sapphy and Rulie once since I knew them.”

They glared at each other briefly, and then went their separate ways.

The twins meanwhile were delighted with him, having upped their grandparent count from one to two.

“You’re quite different from our other pirate grandfather,” Cerulean informed him.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s really big and kind of scary plus he has a massive moustache and a peg leg which he lost in a ship wreck when he was saving Papa’s life.”

Peter touched his own perpetually bare chin and glanced at his intact feet. “Well, could he do this?” He bent his thumb backwards. “I’m double jointed!”

Impressed, Sapphire shook her head. “He couldn’t do that.”

He chuckled smugly, “Not many people can. I’m special like that. I guess Sanji’s dad just isn’t.”

“Technically he’s not Sanji’s dad, we were talking about Zeff his adoptive father, not his real father.”

“Oh. Do you know who his real father is?”

Cerulean scratched behind his ear, “They don’t tell us much, from the bits and pieces we’ve pretty much worked out he’s the third son of Jaji the King of Germa. You know, the one who used to rule the entire North Blue.”

Peter simply inhaled deeply, and then exhaled again. “Cool,” he managed, and stood up to go stare out the window.

* * *

It was quite easy to get Sanji alone, when he was cooking everyone else tended to have better things to do than bother him and risk getting kicked.

“Good afternoon,” he said casually as he walked in.

Sanji turned to look at him cautiously. “…Good afternoon.”

Peter rolled his shoulders and leant against a counter. “So how’ve you been.” He forced a smile. Sanji’s face remained blank.

“…Fine.”

A stretch of silence while Peter looked around the room. “So, by the way,” he started suddenly, “What’s your surname?”

“Roronoa.”

“Right, right,” Peter hummed, “Is that like your…”

“I took it after I married Zoro,” Sanji was squinting at him, trying to catch his angle, “I didn’t want to keep my actual surname much anyway.”

“Hmm,” Peter nodded, still trying to look bored and cool, “Yeah, that’s cool. So, your actual surname is like….”

“Vinsmoke.”

Peter gulped.

Sanji rolled his eyes. “Before you say anything I haven’t willingly associated with them since I was eight.”

“But… you’ve got that blood in you.”

“Yeah.”

“So… That means Sapphy and Rulie do too?”

“They haven’t been even close to being genetically engineered if that’s what you mean?”

“No like,” Peter looked at the ceiling, “They’re royal blood?”

“I was disowned and then I renounced my titles so, no,” Sanji turned around to get back to slicing meat. Peter still didn’t leave. “What else do you want?”

“You were born a prince but now you’re just a cook?”

“I’m not _just a cook_ , I’m the best cook in the Grand Line and one of the most feared nakama of the Pirate King.”

“No but I mean,” Peter struggled for the words. “You gave it all up?”

“They tortured me and killed my mother.”

A long silence.

“Ah.”

“Mm.”

Peter clicked his tongue, nodded slowly and then turned for the door. “Good talk, great talk. I hope we can have another one.” He left the room.

Sanji’s eyes followed him as he left the room, and then all of a sudden amused started laughing, and turned back to his work. “What a guy.”

* * *

 

Peter was on deck, staring out to sea. It would’ve been a cool pensive scene if he wasn’t leaning over the side which was next to his crew’s ship, which was still sailing with them, on which they were having Country Dance Thursday. He walked to the opposite side of the ship to look a little cooler.

He was still thinking over everything. What was a prince of Germa doing being interested in Clara? Sure, he seemed like a normal guy on the outside, but in no world would he ever have considered _his_ grandchildren being the offspring of someone like that. He had lived such an ordinary life, aside from various exploits he’d experienced with his crew, and had always thought Clara would settle down with an ordinary island guy.

Not do the same thing as Chloe did but with… A member of one of the most notoriously vicious royal families in the world.

“Do they have to line dance _every_ Thursday,” Zoro was beside him suddenly, and Peter jumped in shock.

When Peter didn’t reply, Zoro continued, “It’s annoying and I was trying to meditate.”

“I… Sorry?”

“It’s fine, man,” Zoro leant against the rails with his back to the sea.

_Why does he look cooler than me when doing the same thing_ , Peter thought to himself, annoyed.

“So you just found out about Sanji’s past, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s bothering you about it?”

“I’m just…” Peter frowned, “He’s a prince you know?”

“He’s not.”

“Huh?”

Zoro looked at him, “He’s not. He left all that so far behind he doesn’t even consider himself ever having been one. We didn’t even find out he was a prince until his family literally turned up and told us themselves.”

“Turned up?” Peter looked alarmed

“Chill, they literally promised not to bother us ever again, they just needed him briefly. He hates them and they hate him, all he wants to be is this crew’s cook.”

Peter still didn’t look sure.

“Listen, he’s literally the kindest and most selfless guy you’ll ever meet. He’d do anything to protect this crew. He’s one of the best guys you’ll ever meet. But, don’t tell him I said that.”

Peter had softened for a moment, but now was puzzled again. “Aren’t you two married?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Shouldn’t it be fine for him to know that you like, like him?”

Zoro sighed. “Just don’t tell him.”

“…Alright then.”

They were quiet for a few moments, as the boat rocked in the peace of the ocean, aside from the muffled country music from the other side of the ship.

“What’s actually wrong, dude,” Zoro asked finally.

Peter looked up, wondering if he should tell him. Finally he admitted it, struggling to form the words. “It’s just… I’m not the cool grandpa.”

“What.”

He rubbed his eyes and pouted, “I always thought I would be the most interesting grandfather.”

“Are you serious.”

“But now I have to compete with some giant peg legged guy or a King. I wanted to be the cool one.”

Zoro flicked him, hard.

“Ow.”

“Aren’t you here? You came to find them as soon as you found out about them, and want them to like you. Doesn’t that make you the cool grandpa?”

Suddenly looking delighted, Peter nodded. “Yeah! I am! And I’m double jointed!”

Zoro bent his thumb backwards. “So am I.”

“Whatever,” Peter decided to not even let that get to him. “I’m a cool grandpa! And you know what, you’re a pretty cool guy too. If my son in law had to turn gay for someone, I’m glad it was you. Maybe you two should work on sharing emotions though. That’s what Chloe and I always did!”

Happily, he skipped off, feeling cool, to go share some of his own cool stories with Sapphire and Cerulean, and maybe the rubber guy too because he always seemed to like to sit in too.  

Zoro stared after him. “What a guy.”

Then he went into the kitchen. “Sanji, I like you. I think you’re cool.”

“Gross.”

“Catch you later, honey.”

“You too, darling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may be thinking to yourself, "Helena, why did this 4000 word chapter take you more than two months, when you wrote a 14000 word chapter in three days?" I have no good answer, I'm very sorry. 
> 
> This is still going to get updated I super want to finish it! No more than five chapters left I swear.


	14. The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLA. IT'S BEEN FOUR MONTHS MAYBE?  
> Basically I lost momentum, I might come back to this some day but I basically stopped watching One Piece.  
> I wrote this ending for the fic a few months ago, so I'll use it as an excuse for this not being abandoned, I just left some middle stuff left out.

They were sat on deck in the darkness, in the strange quiet that had persevered since all the children aboard the ship had been delivered back to their families. Instead it was just them, their own family. Sapphire was sat on Sanji’s lap, enclosed in his arms where she liked to sit these days, safe. Sanji was leant lightly against Zoro, who occasionally moved his hand to pat Sapphire’s hair, or stroke down Sanji’s back. Cerulean was lying down staring at the stars, one had loosely wrapped around Zoro’s ankle.

The deck lights were turned off so that the sky was clear enough for them to make out constellations as the ship gently rocked through the waves.

Through the darkness Zoro looked at his husband, and two children, and it occurred to him not for the first time how much he adored them. He would never abandon this, he’d defeat Mihawk and he’d return to them.

The silence was comfortable and loving, and Sapphire closed her eyes and counted the times she could hear the water roll up against the side of the boat and then fall back. She matched her breathing to it. When she opened her eyes and again and turned her gaze to the sky, she saw a flash of brilliant white race across the sky and fade again.

“Shooting star,” she said.

“I saw it too,” said her brother, “Do we have to make a wish now?”

Zoro reached down to tug his ear affectionately, “If you want to.”

“Then I wish for us all to stay together forever.”

Sanji smiled to the darkness as Sapphire piped up, “Me too.”

He threaded his fingers through her hair and leant further into Zoro’s side. There was no need for them to wish for that, he thought. They were his children, his family. He would never leave them behind anywhere again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYONE THAT READ THIS  
> It was my first like long extended bit of writing and I had so much fun with it even though I know my writing style is a bit weird. Lmao it was based off this weird idea I had while out jogging in May when I was like imagine if Sanji had a son lol, and then it became this?  
> I won't lie, this was supposed to be about 100k, and I had some more stuff planned, but now I don't have any steam left to write it too. Anyway, I'd already written the ending just for the lols, so I've decided to post this so that the fic is technically finished.   
> Thank you so much for reading, I love all of you, and each comment literally gave me so much happiness. I usually don't reply so as not to artificially inflate the comments number, but I read each one and each of them made me so happy! Sometimes I wanted to stop writing and the comments made me keep going.   
> If I get back into One Piece I might end up adding the few chapters of other stuff I was going to, but as for now, this is the end.  
> Thank you!!!!  
> Helena xx


End file.
